Zyro's Disrepute
by SonicaDarkness
Summary: After the ultimate downfall of Alcorin and the rescue of Gingka and his brother, Zyro and his friends have finally returned to Metal Bey City with their normal lives, and are now preparing for the upcoming school year. However, they soon discover that there's a much bigger power at work. And that the game is far from over. Warnings Inside. Rating may go up.
1. Prologue

**Hello, everybody! And welcome to the final installment to this trilogy I've been working on, which you guys never even knew was going to be a trilogy! OwO Yay~!**

 **Anyways, welcome to Zyro's Disrepute! The sequel to both Gingka's Deceit and Truth's Disgrace! You know, those two stories that ended with completely unfair cliffhangers and just so many more questions? Yes, those ones B3**

 **The warnings for this story are listed below. If any of these bother you, I suggest you only continue at your own risk.**

 **Warnings: Violence, Blood, Death, Murder, Suicide (mentioned), Attempted Murder, Psychotic Behavior, Insanity, Mental Torture, Emotional Torture, Physical Torture, Mental Trauma, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Depression, Medical Experimentation on Humans, Mental Experimentation on Humans, Kidnapping, Mind Control, Sexual Harassment (mentioned), Selfcest (implied), War, and Vomiting.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Metal Fight Beyblade, all rights go to the rightful owners. I only own some characters and the plot.**

* * *

Prologue

* * *

And again, there was darkness.  
Darkness blacker than night, than abyss, than the void; darkness that could only described as 'nothing'. And nothing it was.  
A nothingness, an emptiness, that he recognized only all to well. That came forward and reached out and embraced him as though he were a dearest old friend - and, in a way, he supposed that he was. It swallowed him whole, surrounded him, suffocated him, leaving an empty space where nothing existed except him. And _him_.  
Seeing it again, Gingka was confused at first - but only for a moment. After that, his mind automatically switched all different ways and quickly came to a conclusion, had the answers that he, in that split moment of blissful naive confusion, had previously asked.

Why was he seeing this? _Because you never left_

Why was he here? _Because you could never be saved_

Why was this happening? _Because he'll never let you go and you know that_

And at that point, all the fear and talking and _touching_ came back to him and the instinctual panic set in once more. He couldn't move, couldn't see but for the blackness that swallowed ( _him_ ) everything. He did not have to look down to see that the chains, however invisible they were, were there, pinning him down and caging him like a wild animal; just as, in mythology, Bellerophon had done to Pegasus before setting it freeing it in their companionship.  
This, however, was _nothing_ like that.  
This was not some heavenly Greek paradise where everything could work out in a hero's favor, not a place of light and hope and necessary bloodshed that ended in guilty remorse yet triumphant victory.  
This was _nothing_. And with nothingness had Gingka become so dearly ( _help me_ ) acquainted with.

 **"Now now..."**

Came a voice that made him freeze to the core, that made all the hairs on the back of his neck stand up straight as arrows, that struck fear into him like no other thing ever could, "No need to be afraid, dear Gingka... It's unsightly." He could feel those hands on him again, radiating with overwhelming _feeling_ that made him squirm and try to pull away uncomfortably.  
He couldn't fathom it, _any of it_...  
He had seen that face, heard that voice. He had always kept wondering before then why that voice had seemed so achingly familiar, so frighteningly recognizable and yet he had _never_ been able to place it... Because it was his own.  
And the human brain (granted he was not fully human) could not truly fathom hearing its own voice spoken, seeing its own face before it. And there was no possible way to ever get those images out of his head.

"I mean, _really_..." The creature, thing, doppelganger, said almost dreamily from behind him, and slunk around to the side, one hand on his shoulder and one on his arm, to peer at his face, "If you're scared of _yourself_ , what does that say about you?... But, then again, I really don't blame you, since you _should_ be..." His doppelganger brought his right hand up and cupped Gingka's cheek opposite him, drawing himself closer to the redhead's face. Gingka's eyes, wide, fearful, gazed at the other from the corner of his vision ( _don't touch me_ ) before he looked away, tried to pull himself away in the same direction but to no avail. "It's always a disappointment, isn't it?..." The albino whispered sullenly, amused, in his ear, his face dangerously close to his own, "Always disappointing when you find out you're _not_ all you _thought_ yourself to be... It doesn't feel good, being trapped in here, now does it? Being _all alone_ in here with _nothing_ but your thoughts, realizing that _nobody's_ coming for you!" The doppelganger laughed with a shrill joy, lined with insanity, craving ruin, tainted with hate, and then moved on over to the side of him, removing his hand from the redhead's cheek.  
"But you're only getting what you _deserve_ , after all." His voice was condescending, a calm and sweet torrent of sadistic torture that floated like a feather but stung like a swarm of hornets, "Just as _you_ and your 'goody-two-shoes' _father_ thought _I_ was getting what _I_ deserved." One white hand, ( _don't_ ) skin as smooth as glass and letting off overwhelming vibrations into his skin, was brought up to the other man's head, gently petting his red hair and causing him to shiver with fear and an ever lingering disgust roiling in the pit of his stomach. "How does it feel, dear Gingka?..." The doppelganger asked leisurely, a light chuckle rising in its throat, "To know that _everything_ you are, _everything_ you're father _told you_ you were... Is all a lie? That you were _never_ really a normal person, never _really_ a creature that should be able to bring love and life?... Yes, you always _did_ love attempting to make things good, didn't you?" The petting of his hair stopped, and the other then moved his hand down to the redhead's very light-freckled cheek and pulled him closer to him, making Gingka let out a high, keening whimper of fear that was pathetic to all ears.  
"He made you think that you were _everything_ you weren't.." His voice wrote out the sneer that was on his face, the look of mad disgust in his non-reflective eyes evident, "And everything that he made you is a _mockery_ of everything you and I are... But of course! No one likes a person who ruins everything - that _kills_ everything they touch... Which is _exactly_ what you are, dear Gingka." Gingka could feel the wetness of tears forming at the edges of his eyelashes, felt the overwhelming shame and repulsion that was built up inside of him, and looked away from the face that was his in a form of denial.  
All that met his ears was an amused, delighted chuckle.  
"Oh, poor, _sweet_ little Gingka..." The doppelganger said with an air of mock pity, "You just keep _denying_ everything... Don't you trust me?... After all, who can you trust if you can't trust yourself?"  
Another laugh, and Gingka shivered violently ( _goawaygoawaygoaway_ ) as the hand that wasn't on his head slowly slid up his arm to his shoulder, that pulsating sensation radiating through his clothing and to the fair skin beneath in a sickeningly gentle manner.

"Don't you know what you _are_?..."

That hand slid over to his chest, pausing there for a moment before moving slowly downwards and wrapping around his torso in a horrifying embrace where everything _hurt_ and felt _numb_ and he just wanted it to _stop_ but it never would, he knew better than that.

" _I_ know what you are..."

The clear, pearly tears fell unbidden from the redhead's eyes and slipped down his cheeks, staining them in their wake with the fear that was born of a deeper sort of terror that should not even be known by any being. The look-alike pulled his own face closer to the redhead's ( _don'ttouchmedon'ttouchme_ ), his lips just barely brushing against the corner of those golden-brown eyes, wide and alight with fear and traumatizing panic.  
"Would anybody even still love you after knowing you're not all that you seem?... I do have to wonder. But then again, what would _I_ know about such things, _right_?!..."  
A choked sob ripped its way out of Gingka's throat, and he took to simply staring forward, doing everything in his power not to look at _that face_ ( _yourface_ ) and willing it to _go away go away goaway_.  
"Shhh... It's alright now... You don't have to cry for their losses... After all, how could they _ever_ love you again?..." The doppelganger took the hand he had around his head and brought it over across his cheek, spreading snow white fingers across the pale skin to the corner of his eye and mouth. "After all, you're _just like_ me... Which can you leave you rest assured..." A joyful madness, a thrilled insanity, in his calm voice, Mizarice leaned his head against Gingka's own.  
"For _I_ am the _only_ one who will _ever_ care... About _all_ that you are..."  
And once more, the darkness swallowed him...

* * *

All at once the world came back to him, and Gingka jerked violently in his bed as he shot into wakefulness in a sudden, startled panic. An upset gasp escaped his mouth in a breathless wave, and his eyesight blurred for a moment before clearing and revealing the white ceiling to his gaze. He lay there for a few seconds, rigid and motionless but for the rapid up and down movement of his chest from his panicked breathing, and did not dare make a sound for fear that something ( _someone_ ) would go wrong and he would find himself in nothing but an illusion, stuck back in that place inside of him that he dreaded in his nightmares.

Three minutes - nothing happened.

Slowly and cautiously Gingka gripped the white sheets below him, then slowly pulled himself up into a sitting position. Fearful eyes glanced around the hospital room from where he sat, the white walls illuminated by the glow of the full moon that poured in through the translucent curtains over the window, muscles stiff and tense in his frightened state, wary of his surroundings.  
Four minutes passed.  
Nothing happened.  
Gingka let himself relax while he shook, his grip on the sheets slowly loosening. He was here, in the hospital, not there... This was real, that wasn't...

( _but it is and you know it_ )

The room was quiet, the small television of which he never actually watched now turned off - courtesy of the nurses, of course. The mirror across from him was also standing up and facing him again, also courtesy of the nurses... Gingka glanced at it once before looking away in fear of what he would see if he looked into the reflective surface for too long, and took to looking around the room. Everything was there, nothing was out of the ordinary...  
This was real. _This_ was real.

( _but so is that and you know it_ )

He wasn't there... _He_ wasn't there...  
Shakily Gingka sighed, hugging himself briefly in the chilled shiver that came over him, the goosebumps on his skin visibly evident and uncomfortable.  
You're okay... You're okay...

( _no you're not_ )

He sat there like that for at least ten minutes without ever barely moving a muscle, staring down at the white sheets that covered his legs and listening to the unbearable and frightening silence that filled his ears with a ceaseless ringing and that _voice_ again. Only when those ten minutes had passed did it occur to him that it would probably be best to go back to sleep - after all, 2:47am wasn't likely the right time to be up for the day.  
Slowly Gingka eased himself back into bed and under the thin covers that he only brought up to his waist, pulling the pillows down more so that he could rest his head on them and stare off into the far side of the room. He listened to the silence that surrounded him in its overwhelming tyranny, heard the faintest whisper in the back of his head that he tried so dearly to ignore even though he knew he would only fall back in dreams of where it welcomed him.  
It's okay... It's okay...

( _no it's not_ )

Tears rolling down his already stained cheeks and wetting both his pillow and the bangs that fell over his face, Gingka laid there in endless silence and cried himself to sleep.


	2. Chapter 1 - Homecoming

Chapter 1 - Homecoming

* * *

Summer had now come and gone in the city of Metal Bey, the change to Autumn (a change that many appreciated compared to the sweltering heat they had been forced to endure) very evident in the now chill air that blew through the streets, the clouds that lingered in the sky all day and all night with still the brief moments of sunshine to make people happy, the flimsy tank tops that changed to long-sleeved shirts and sweaters in windows of local shops, and the green-yellow leaves on the trees now turning a beautiful golden-orange and red color.  
While summer meant standing in front of fans in next to no clothing and endless days at the beach, Fall typically meant cozy sweaters and jumping into piles of leaves, with chill days and nights where hot chocolate could finally start to be a thing to desire again. Not that it never was but fall and winter were definitely more appropriate for such a drink.  
However, Fall also meant that it would soon be time to head back to school, which at least 95% of children were unhappy and frustrated about, with audible groans to be heard every time an adult or anyone that was remotely excited for it brought it up. Because of this, the many children and teenagers that inhabited Metal Bey City were making the most of their last few days of summer vacation, being extra sure not to let it go to waste and to cross as many things off of their 'Summer Vacation Bucket Lists' as possible. One of those things, however, was definitely not going to be checked off for quite awhile, and it was one that a lot of people - children and adults alike - had been most eager to see.  
The Bridge To The Future Tournament had never started back up again after it had been called to a stand-still by Director Tsubasa Otori, and so far there had been no further updates on what was happening with it. Many people were firmly convinced that Director Otori had simply decided that it wasn't worth the time even with how serious had been taken at first and that he decided to call the whole thing off even without the evidence of doing so, and so far no one had said anything to prove this theory wrong.  
Tsubasa didn't blame them of course, since what was he to tell them after this long? No one could or would know the truth behind why he had stopped it in the first place, and even if he did decide to announce it to people, no one in their right, sane minds would actually believe it. He _had_ thought about starting it back again within the last few weeks, but he knew that that would not be a very smart plan of action. He had actually planned for the tournament to be over by this time, with Japan's representatives chosen and sent off, but that had been greatly compromised by the whole Alcorin incident. Besides, starting it up so close to the start of the school year wouldn't be doing the kids that participated any favors - he respected that they needed their education since Beyblade would not take them far forever. So he had simply decided to not bother, and got on with all regular business at the WBBA.  
The younger bladers of whom he was acquainted and friends with did not seem to mind all too much even if they were a little disappointed, and reassured him and each other that there was always next year or whenever it was given a chance. He wasn't too sure how the ex-DNA bladers were though, since they were always a mystery and barely anybody ever saw them. They typically seemed to stay at the 'dorms' provided in the Metal Bey Stadium, with training sessions here and there, but otherwise no other social or outside contact. Zyro supposedly saw Kira every now and then, but that was about as much as he'd heard, aside from the rest of that team supposedly seen to be wandering around the city from time to time. Whether Kira was back with them or not was also a mystery yet to be discovered to him, since Zyro - the only one who ever saw the Bahamoote Blader - never really said anything about it. For all they knew he may not be very sure himself, since Kira was a pretty hostile and solitary person who was never too keen to getting close to people, even with his slight affection that he may have towards Zyro (or so Ren and Shinobu sometimes implied at least). As for the Ifraid Blader himself, Tsubasa knew that it was probably about time that he start heading down towards the train station on the outskirts of the city to see him off with the others. Zyro was scheduled to catch the train back to Omitama that afternoon, the town that was closest to his hometown that actually had a train station, since the school year was about to start up again and he knew he had to get back there to start it, even with as much as he wanted to stay in Metal Bey City. All of them had understood this and had decided to work around their afternoon to see him off until whenever he would be able to return - which may very well not be until next summer for all they knew, so it would be a good idea to head down for him. Tsubasa smiled softly from where he sat at his desk, gently pulling his eyes away from the wall of windows on his right, and picked up the receiver of the phone at the corner of his desk. He dialed several numbers in, listening to the beeping sound that each one made as he pressed them, and then waited patiently for someone on the other end to pick up.  
"Hello, Director." Greeted the cheery voice of Tamako, his secretary, on the other end of the line.  
"Tamako, I'm going on my break." Tsubasa explained to the woman, "I'll be gone for about at hour, so would you please handle all incoming correspondence while I'm gone?"  
"Of course, Director." Tamako replied happily.  
"Thank you." Tsubasa then hung up the phone and stood up from his seat, grabbing his coat off of the coat rack in the corner as he made his way out of the sliding glass doors that lead to his office...

* * *

Earlier that day Zyro had gotten out of bed at the B-Pit and eaten breakfast fairly early before anyone else had woken up, having set his alarm clock on his phone ahead of time in his plan to get together all he needed for the trip home and to make a few select stops that he wanted to go to before he left for the school year. After that he had gone back to the spare room that he was currently inhabiting and retrieved his travelling pack from the closet, proceeding to stuff various things that he had brought with him to Metal Bey (and several things that he had obtained there) into it neatly so that he would have enough room. He packed what clothes he had in the room into his bag, and figured that the rest were more than likely in the wash, but he could deal with those later after he was done running around.  
He left his backpack in his room on the bed before heading back down to the kitchen and writing up a quick note to Madoka (mainly about that he had gone out for awhile to do some things and that he would be back within a few hours) which he left on the table. Then he went down the two stories of the building to the front doors of the shop, grabbing a spare set of keys that Madoka kept behind the front desk to unlock the doors and then lock them again, and looked up at the building briefly once he stood out on the sidewalk, the shadows of the morning looming over him while the ever-present chill in the air nipped at the edges of his skin.  
He was going to miss this place when he went back. It had become like a second home to him, with Madoka's kindness and hospitality being something that he was eternally grateful for. She had told him a couple days ago that he was always welcome back whenever he returned to Metal Bey, and he thanked for it. Even still, he really didn't think he'd be returning anytime soon.  
Maybe Winter or Spring Break if he was given the time and chance, but even he knew he might not be back until next summer. Even with that fact, he didn't let it get him down. It wasn't like he was going away forever, so there wasn't too much need to worry - he'd definitely be coming back; he'd made too many friends and memories here not too.  
Zyro smiled and laughed softly to himself, and then turned away and made his way off down the sidewalk so that he could get done what he wanted too.  
First he went around and went shopping for some school supplies that he knew he would need (even though the shelves were mostly picked clean, but it wasn't like he couldn't get whatever else he needed in his hometown anyway), and get a couple of new clothes of which he had delayed getting until now. He _could_ always get some clothes from the few shops back home, but then he would probably be wearing the exact same outfit as 96% of the boys at school were, so with this way there was at least some diversity.  
After that, he met up with Ren and Shinobu at a Starbucks near the center of town, where he had lunch with the two of them and bickered over the starting of the school year, which all three of them were either excited about or loathed - there was basically no in between.  
After that they had gone to visit Benkei at Bull Burger and assure that he would be there later for Zyro's departure, and the raven then left them there as he raced off to the hospital. He had been hoping to maybe see Kira somewhere along his travels, but the Bahamoote Blader was an (supposedly) indirect no-show. Zyro decided not to bother trying to find him either since Kira was very evasive of people even when he wasn't trying to be.  
Pushing the thought of the other boy from his mind, Zyro got to the local hospital within a good 20 minutes from Bull Burger, and signed in at registration for permission to see the redhead that had been a patient there for the last month and a few days.  
The psychiatric ward was never a welcome place, no matter how many times he went there, but Zyro did his best to block out the rest of the screams and moans and odd looks from other patients as he made his way to Gingka's room, which wasn't too far down the first hall. Zyro knocked on the wide open door frame, telling Gingka that someone was there, before he peered into the room, seeing the redhead in question up and standing (actually _standing_ now) over by the window and seeming to close it where it had originally been open.  
Gingka appeared to jump slightly at the sound of the knock on the door frame - something that all of them had grown accustomed too from him - before he turned around to look at the door. His slight deer-in-headlights look faded almost immediately as he saw the young blader in the doorway, and a warm smile made its way onto his face.

"Oh, hey Zyro." He greeted.  
"Hey." Zyro greeted in turn, walking into the room a little ways, "Sorry, I just came to visit for a bit, if that's okay? We're you doing something?"  
Gingka shook his head. "No, just closing the window." He said, "It's a little cold to have it open..."  
"Yeah, I guess so." Zyro said with a rub of the back of his head. Gingka just smiled before making his way back across the small room, holding into the railing of the second bed briefly for support.  
After about a month of physical therapy, Gingka had finally managed to regain the strength in his legs to stand and walk around, and still took multiple sessions each week to help improve him on it. Even so, his movements were stiff, and he had trouble getting up and down stairs (which was being worked on), and he could just barely do a fast walk down the hallway, and that was with assistance. Not to mention that it could definitely tire him out easily, especially after long periods of time with no rest periods. It was still a work in progress, but he _was_ getting better, even it was still going to be awhile before he was physically ready to leave the hospital.  
Being mentally and emotionally ready to leave, however, was another story.  
After making his way over to the side of the room, Gingka carefully sat down on the side of his bed, the thin sheet that he typically wore over his legs when laying down pulled up nicely in an organized way.  
Zyro wasn't too sure if that was the nurses or the man himself, since it was noted that Gingka had a bit of an unconscious habit to organize things every now and then. A trauma thing, seemingly, but for what reason was unknown.  
He saw Gingka briefly gesture to the bare bed that lay opposite to him, and Zyro quickly got the message, moving over to it and sitting down on the edge of it himself, directly across from the Legendary Blader. He then sat the few bags that he had with him down at the foot of it.  
"So, you're heading back to town today, huh?" The redhead asked rhetorically once the Ifraid Blader settled himself, and the raven nodded.  
"Yeah, well, I can't really stay here all the time." Zyro said sheepishly, "Wish I could though... I wanted to come say goodbye to you before I go, though, since I know you won't be able to be there."  
Gingka chuckled softly. "Well, thanks." Gingka said gratefully, a soft look in his eyes, "That means a lot... I'd be there if I _could_ be, but you know how the doctors are up here."  
Zyro smiled a little nervously at that.  
As friendly as the doctors could be up in the psyche ward, they were still a little scary when it came to dealing with patients, especially ones marked down as violent, like Gingka was still considered as. He didn't really see the reason in that, though, since Gingka would never dare hurt anyone as long as he could help it. And the redhead was actually terrified of doing so now, as was evidently so. The 'violent' part was reserved for the times when he actually freaked out, which were now few and far between (so they'd been told).  
"Don't worry about it." Zyro said dismissively, "You need to stay here and keep getting better, anyway!"  
To that, Gingka laughed softly. "Don't I know..." He said with a sigh and a playful role of his eyes, "Madoka's been giving me that enough as it is... And Minoru's practically been fussing over me every spare chance he gets... He told me the other day he was going to be there to see you off. I hope that's true?"  
"Yeah, he said he would be." Zyro answered, "He's been a lot friendlier around us recently, so I'm pretty sure he'll show up. I still don't know where he goes in his spare time, though, other than here..."  
"Yeah..." Gingka said with a soft sigh and a smile, "I don't know either, but he seems to take care of himself just fine, so I don't worry too much about it. But it's good to hear that he isn't hiding from you guys anymore. For the most part, anyway..."  
"He's actually pretty fun to be around!" Zyro said with a laugh, "The other day he taught me and Maru how to tie _six_ different knots."  
"Well, he seems to be pretty resourceful in that way." Gingka said with a smile, a distant look of admiration and pride in his eyes that was fairly easy to see, "It's good for him, to be opening up with you guys like he is."  
"Well, yeah, but..." Zyro started, adverting his eyes slightly before looking back at the redhead, "I've never seen him here, before... None of the others ever have either."  
Gingka smiled somberly and nodded. "I know..." He said, "Madoka's mentioned that before, too. He knows you guys don't mind him being around, but... I think it's just a matter of that _he_ minds if he's around. He's not the most confident person, as I'm sure you've seen."  
Zyro nodded, rubbing the back of his neck with a sheepish smile.  
"Yeah, I know." The raven said reassuringly, before his expression faltered.

God, he always hated this turn in the conversation whenever they all came to visit, and he knew Gingka didn't like it either.  
He briefly considered not going to that subject, and he would have gladly listened to that part of his brain had his slightly more logical side not been more convincing. They all hated asking by now, but even Dr. Amori had said that t was a good idea to always ask. Supposedly give him 'motivation' for it, so he'd put it.  
The redhead looked at him expectantly for a few seconds, and his expression slowly became one of soft concern.  
"Yes?" He questioned flatly, as if he knew what Zyro wanted to say. But of course he did. He always did at this point.  
"Well..." The Ifraid Blader said slowly, "I know this is a little sudden, but... how have you... been doing, exactly?"  
Almost immediately did Gingka look away, although he didn't physically turn his head to do so. He knew what Zyro meant, he didn't have to ask. By now, he never did.  
He was doing well in his physical therapy, and that was clear - none of them had a problem talking about that at any time of the day. But it was the matter of his _psychological_ therapy that was not mentioned lightly, and something that Gingka wasn't ever comfortable mentioning. He _would_ talk about it, but all of them would be damned if he were actually okay with it.  
"Fine, I guess..." He said, evidently more detached than he had been, "... The doctors would say otherwise, though..."  
"Okay..." Zyro said awkwardly, suddenly wishing that he hadn't decided to ask that damned question, "W-why's that..."  
"Because I never say anything..." Gingka answered flatly, "... I don't talk when I'm there... And if I do then nothing ever makes sense to them."  
Zyro furrowed his eyebrows lightly, but didn't say anything to that. He knew just as well as everyone else did that Gingka wasn't doing so well in his (psychological) therapy sessions, as they had been told numerous times by Dr. Amori in their visits. He never spoke to the therapist about what was wrong, never spoke to _them_ about what was wrong, and nobody had any idea how to help him because of it. Whether or not he spoke to Minoru about it was something that none of them had ever really gotten out of either of them, which they supposed was reasonable. If the younger twin _did_ know anything then it was without a doubt that Minoru was just respecting his brother's privacy, as he rightfully should.  
The only real thing that he had ever said to them was about seeing 'him', hearing 'his' voice, with the name of 'Mizarice' mentioned sparsely. He never did say who 'Mizarice' was, claiming that they wouldn't believe him no matter how much they insisted that they would.  
Even so, he never said a thing.  
"...You shouldn't be bothered with my problems, it's not fair to you..." Gingka said softly, shaking his head, "It's clear you don't want to hear it anyway."  
"No, no!" Zyro said hurriedly, jumping slightly where he sat, "I-it's fine, really! I didn't mean it like that. Honest..." For a moment Gingka finally looked at him again, his face unreadable, blank but for the sober emotions that were still clearly there but unable to be placed. Then he looked away again, looking slightly agitated by the way his eyebrows were brought together and how the muscles directly underneath his eye seemed to twitch unconsciously, an uncomfortable aura practically visible around him.  
It wasn't anything new, though. Gingka got like this sometimes, which could be caused by any number of things. Typically, it was a sign that he should maybe be left alone for awhile.  
Zyro had noticed until right then how quiet the room really was.  
"Umm..." He started softly, standing up slowly from his seat, "I... I should probably go now.. I've only got an hour or so before I have to be at the train station." That was a guilty lie; he didn't have to leave for at least another two and a half hours, but whether or not Gingka could tell he didn't know, "It was good seeing you, Gingka. I'll see you some other time, when I'm not busy with school, okay?"

Slowly he made off towards the door, feeling that prickling unease of uncomfortable awkwardness pulling at his skin as he made his way to leave, but a voice from behind stopped him. A soft voice, insecure, shaking. Nothing like the man he had originally known from so long ago.  
"Zyro?..." Gingka questioned so softly, voice just barely above a whisper, that Zyro had to strain his ears to hear. The raven stopped and looked over his shoulder briefly, seeing Gingka doing the same. The redhead's eyes were partially hidden by his hair, but he could still see the silent apology and forlorn concern in their brightly dull surfaces.  
"Y-yeah?" He asked, and cursed the stutter in his voice.  
Gingka sat perfectly still for a few moments, before letting out a soft breath of exhaustion. "Be good, okay?"  
Zyro stared at the redhead for a moment in confused surprise, but brushed it aside all the same with a bright grin. "Hey, don't worry about it!" The Ifraid Blader said reassuringly, "I'll be fine! And I'll be sure to stay in touch, too."  
Gingka nodded slightly and gave a poor attempt at a smile, but Zyro knew he meant it to be genuine. With one last bright smile - something that he knew Gingka liked seeing from most of them more often than not - Zyro turned and left from the room, leaving Gingka alone with nothing but the sound of the call bells and faint bickering from outside.  
The redhead slowly looked away from the door once he was sure that Zyro had left, and turned his golden-brown eyes to look down at his knees. He was hunched forward slightly, his hands placed together in his lap, his bangs - of which he rarely cut - falling over his eyes.  
Of course he had scared Zyro away... He always managed that with all of them...

 _Your fault your fault_

He raised his hands up and put them on either side of his head just above his ears, squeezing his eyes shut as he curled in on himself, biting the inside of his lip to stop himself from crying, to stop himself from screaming, from breaking down, from making them all think that there was something wrong with him.

 _But there_ is

In the silence, he could hear that voice coming back again. And he didn't like it...

* * *

That time of the day that all of them had been expecting had finally arrived, the large clock posted outside of the station reading 3:10pm - exactly 20 minutes before Zyro's train home was scheduled to arrive to pick up its passengers and head along its way.  
"Looks like we're making pretty good time." Madoka said cheerfully as she eyed the digital clock built into the dashboard of taxi, and then looked out her window at the outdoor station, "Doesn't look like too many people are here yet, either..."  
"Hey, there's Ren and Shinobu!" Maru exclaimed happily all of a sudden, leaning over her teacher's lap as much as her seat belt would allow her, pointing her small finger out towards the station through the glass.  
Madoka looked towards where she was pointing, squinting the slightest bit in forced strain, before softening her expression again with enlightenment.  
"Oh yeah, I see them now!" She said, "Looks like Tsubasa and Minoru are here too. Guess they got here earlier." The brunette, still smiling, looked over across the seat to Zyro, noticing how quiet he was being.  
The raven had been sitting there with his shoulders slightly hunched and a distant look in his eyes for nearly the whole ride, and Madoka knew that - unless something else was weighing on his mind at the moment - this was probably a bit of a big thing for him. Of course he was excited to head back home and see his parents after the whole summer - he had expressed that to them clearly earlier in the day - but it was also clear that he was sad to go.  
That was understandable; Zyro had really grown to become a part of Metal Bey City, just as the rest of them were. Over the summer he had become an ally, a friend, _family_ even, if her and Maru had anything to say of it.  
They were sad to see him go as well, but they knew he'd be back. If they knew Zyro at all by this point they knew that he wouldn't stay away forever.  
"You okay, Zyro?" She asked regardless of her concluded thoughts, her eyebrows knitted together in concern, although her soft smile remained.  
Zyro tensed a moment and immediately looked towards the woman a child away from him, as though snapped out of some deep thought. It seemed to take a few seconds for the questioned registered, but soon enough the Ifraid Blader smiled and nodded.  
"Y-yeah, I'm good." He said, though not with the usual enthusiasm that typically made up his personality. It had still been an ever-present trait even after the Alcorin situation, no matter how toned down it sometimes was, but Madoka could see it in his eyes that he wasn't so sure.  
"Nervous?" She asked, tilting her head to the side a bit.  
"Yeah, you could say that..." The raven replied softly with an off-hand rub of the back of his neck.  
The brunette just smiled warmly and nodded her head. "Don't worry about it, it'll be fine." She said consolingly, "I'm sure your parents will be glad to see you after so long. And you know you can always call and send letters whenever you want! It's not like we're just going to cut off all contact with you the moment you round the corner of the country-side." Zyro laughed softly at that, and Madoka felt her heart smile at that. "And you can always come back whenever you want." The brunette added, "We typically always have a few spare rooms open."  
Zyro looked at her for a moment, glanced at Maru - who was smiling cheerfully at him in the reassurance that her teacher was telling the truth - briefly, and then looked back at brunette with a reassured smile, although it seemed a slightly uncertain one.  
"Okay." He said, nodding, "Yeah, sure!"  
Madoka smiled back, while Maru gave a 'Yay~!' of approval.  
God, these kids would probably be the death of her one day, but she'd been lying if she said she didn't love them.

The three of them then got out of the cab, Madoka paying the driver the requested amount, and walked over towards the station, soon met part-way by the four who were already there.  
"Oh good, I thought you guys were going to decide to make a break for it, you were in there for awhile." Tsubasa said lightheartedly, and Madoka rolled her eyes at him.  
"If we were going too, we probably wouldn't have been in there as long as we were." She pointed out, before raising an eyebrow at the silverette, "When did you guys get here, by the way?"  
"Like 20-something minutes ago or something like that." Ren answered her with a shrug of her shoulders, "This guy, though," She gestured to Minoru who a little off to the side, "was here before any of us were even thinking about it!"  
Madoka looked towards the blue-haired man and raised an eyebrow. "And that would be _how_ early?" She questioned.  
"Uhhh..." Minoru started awkwardly, not meeting her eyes, "At about 1:30?... Maybe a little earlier?"  
"That's, like, two hours ahead of schedule..." Zyro speculated with a sweat-drop that was shared by everyone else, "Why would you need to be here that early?"  
Minoru brought a hand up and scratched his cheek gently, avoiding eye contact through slight embarrassment.  
"Well..." He started, "To be honest, I didn't know exactly what time you said you would be leaving, but I did know that it was going to be some time between two-o-clock and four, so I got here at about 1:30 or so, and I've been here for the last two hours."  
"You know, you could've just come over and asked." Madoka said lightheartedly.  
"Yeah, but I didn't know if you were already on the way or not, so I just decided to wait here instead of heading all the way back down into town. And by the time I even thought of it, I was already sort of here, so..."  
Maru tilted her head, a confused look on her face. "Can't you teleport, though?" She asked curiously.  
Minoru flushed slightly. "Well, yeah, but..."  
"Okay, okay!" Madoka cut in, "Let's just drop it for now, we're all here, so how or when we got here doesn't really matter. Let's just leave it that."  
Sheepishly, all of them dropped the subject. It took at least ten more minutes before Benkei and the Unabara brothers finally showed up, huffing and panting from having run all the way there, and leaving them with only five minutes to spare before Zyro's train arrived.  
"You _actually_ ran here?" Madoka asked incredulously once the three had stopped in front of the rest of them, sweat-soaked and tired.  
"Of course we did!" Benkei bellowed, giving them a 'of course we did' stance, "These two were with me, so I figured it be good for their training!..." Neither of the Unabara brothers said anything to this; Kite just put out the 'OK' sign with his fingers, while Eight nearly collapsed face-first onto the smooth pavement beneath them.  
"Of course you did..." Tsubasa muttered with a soft sigh, knowing that it was only typical of Benkei.  
"That's a little excessive, don't you think?" Minoru questioned, eyebrows raised high with a concerned look on his face for all three of the newly arrived friends.  
"He doesn't think so." Ren said to him, gesturing to the Manager, "By this point, we don't even bother to question it, and I would wisely say that you shouldn't bother either."  
"He's like that all the time." Zyro said in further confirmation, "It's almost kinda scary..."  
"Amen to that." Shinobu joined in, scooting over next to Zyro.  
Minoru just sweat-dropped slightly, choosing to believe the teenagers around him. After all, he had seen enough of Benkei in the past little while to know that it was well to believe it.

All of them fell silent as they heard the loud whistle of the nearing train go off, all bodies turning towards the tracks to see the large metal contraption quickly coming towards the station, bearing more passengers to be dropped off.  
"Well, there's your ride, Zyro." Tsubasa said unnecessarily, amber eyes straying over to the large clock, "They make good time, at least."  
"Yeah, I guess..." Zyro said softly, absent-mindedly adjusting his one-arm hold on his backpack. His quietness did not go unnoticed by many, receiving several glances from the group of friends that surrounded him.  
Minoru's was one of several who lingered, golden-brown eyes. so similar to his brother's, studying the boy side-long at an almost horizontal angle. His eyes narrowed slightly as he gazed at the Ifraid Blader, a calm look on contemplation on his face.  
"Did you go to see Gingka earlier?" He asked, drawing Zyro's attention.  
The raven was taken aback by the sudden question, and had trouble processing what exactly he had been asked. "Huh?" He asked, a questioning expression on his face as he looked up towards the slightly taller male.  
"Did you see Gingka earlier?" Minoru repeated, calmly making eye contact.  
"Well, yeah, of course I did..." Zyro said quietly, looking back towards the tracks uneasily, "Why?..."  
Minoru seemed like he wanted to say something, but also seemed to consider it for a few brief moments before deciding against it and looked back towards the tracks as the train they were all waiting for slowly slid forward into a stop. "Just wondering..."  
This wasn't exactly the place to talk about it, anyway, but he knew how Zyro probably felt. He _could_ just be making assumptions, of course, but in the sort of 'spiritual' connection that they had always unconsciously had, he knew he was right. Beyond that, he was sure that a lot of them knew how he felt even if they weren't aware of it.  
Being around Gingka these days was never really a _'bad'_ thing, of course not. They were always all happy to see him and be around him and talk with him, because they were all friends and relatives and the like, and they cared about it. It would also undoubtedly get boring up there in the psychiatric ward, where people were afraid to touch you or say the wrong thing.  
But although that was the case, there was also the ever lingering fact that people - no matter who they were - tended to get unsettled around him, especially recently. Mainly upon bringing up the topic of how his mental health was fairing, but that was besides the point.  
He wasn't too detailed upon the experiences of the others around him, but Minoru had seen a small part of what Gingka was capable of once for himself, and that had been reason enough. He had never thought before then that Gingka could be so scared of that mirror...  
He had left the hospital that day feeling less than pleasant under his skin, for more reasons than one. But he kept that to himself, since he knew it may make the raven beside him feel less than comfortable, and he really didn't need that when he was about to make his ride home.  
"Well, that's my cue, I guess." The Ifraid Blader announced with a sigh, looking at the awaiting train doors with an excited apprehension.  
"You _better_ call us Zyro!" Ren said firmly with hands on her hips, "Because _we'll_ be calling you!"  
"Hey, I said I would, didn't I?" Zyro reassured her with a sweat-drop.  
"Just, be safe, Zyro." Madoka said with a sweat-drop of her own, "And have a good trip."  
"And remember to train while you're down south, too!" Benkei said enthusiastically.  
"I think Grade 11 math homework is going to be as much training as he needs, Benkei..." Tsubasa pointed out quietly, although the purple-haired man didn't seem to hear him.

Zyro flashed all of them that grin that wasn't seen as often these days as they had been previously, and then turned around and hurried over to the waiting train doors.  
"Bye, Zyro!" Maru called, and her call was echoed by the others as well, various waves heading off in his direction.  
It was hardly a few moments after Zyro entered the train that the metal doors closed behind him, and the high pitch of the train whistle shouted off into the air in its signature call. As soon as he was inside, the raven immediately made a direct right and looked out the closest window he could get too, dropping his backpack onto the empty seat next to him and looking out at his friends through the fiber glass. Their voices were muffled from the outside, but they still reached his ears nonetheless, their friendly faces doing all the speaking that they themselves could never do.  
"Bye." Zyro said softly even though they could not hear him, raising his own hand shyly and waving off in response to them, sky blue eyes following the moving figures of his friends ( _family_ ) as the train gave a jolt before slowly starting forward along the tracks, "Bye..."  
He followed their faces with his eyes, watched as they grew smaller and smaller, their friendly and heartfelt expressions never wavering and sticking behind his eyelids like glue. He kept waving and they kept waving for as long as they were all in sight of each other, even after their individual voices could no longer be heard, willing the moment to last for as long as could be possible. Even after the train rounded the bend and they were gone from his sight, Zyro didn't stop looking out the window for a good few minutes, half staring out at the landscape and view before him, and half staring at his own vague reflection on the window pane. He had always known he'd be leaving Metal Bey City, ever since he had first arrived. But he had never really pictured what the goodbye would be like before now.  
It took him awhile before he finally turned away and sat down properly on his seat, facing the inside of the train where reality was, where all the other passengers in there were reading newspapers or books, listening to music, doing crosswords, playing video games.  
Man, was he suddenly thankful again that Madoka had gotten him that Word Scrabble to do on the way home. Granted he was terrible at those things, but it would be able to keep him busy nonetheless. It was only then that Zyro let out a breath that he hadn't realized he'd been holding, a sense of relief and calm coming over him at last.  
The stories he was going to be able to tell his parents when he got home... They would be _so_ blown away!  
Smiling at the thought, Zyro reached over with anticipation to his bag to seek out that word puzzle...

* * *

The rhythmic 'tap...tap...' of Director Hideyoshi's finely polished dress shoe on the metal of the floor was a muffled sound in the large room compared to the seemingly endless click-clacking of hundreds of keyboards, and the 'ting'ing of the alerts and 'swishing' of various holographic files and pages opening on translucent screens.  
Teal eyes behind square, wire-rimmed spectacles carefully and expertly scanned the room, flicking to and fro every screen that he could see, assuring for himself that all that needed to be accomplished was being done. But of course that was the case, since he expected nothing less from this team - one of just many in his network. He stood there, behind all of their backs, watching and observing trained eyes.  
A higher presence among a world full of ordinary mortals.  
The tapping of his shoe was not impatient, though, as the inexperienced person might expect. It was steady, slow, as though he were tapping to an unseen beat of music in 4/4 time, without the other beats involved. To others, watching all of these things happen as slowly, but steadily, as they were would be nerve-grating, irritating, the cause of much frustration and perhaps constant pacing. But not to him. After all, he had learned to be a patient man after all of these years, and he knew how to wait for things. Although, he _would_ be inclined to admit that he was more than apprehensive for the soon-to-be return of their most valued research project.  
He had waited many long years for such a thing to occur, for any sign of that beloved child that they had never been able to get their hands on, and his patience had paid off, as it typically did. Even after all others had claimed that such a miracle could never occur, he had waited. And now today was the day that they had all been secretly anticipating for the last fifteen years.  
He gave a satisfied smirk at that thought, and then looked with pride down to his right and gazed at the boy that sat there beside him, collapsed against the chair that had been placed there for his use. Hideyoshi had had the boy accompany him for awhile that day, deciding that, considering today was such a special occasion, he should take him out around the facility, or at least for as much as he could manage. As frail as he was, it would not hurt him to walk around the place for awhile. That much was certain, if his frequent visits downstairs were anything to go by. And, as he usually did, he simply sat there, as silent as he always was and with that ever vacant expression of indifference and absent thought.  
The Director said nothing to him, however, and looked back to the rest of the room after a few moments.  
"Afternoon, Director." Came that sharp, solid female voice that he recognized so well, the sophisticated clacking of heels on metal resounding in his ears.  
Giving his signature smug - but not _too_ smug, mind you - smile, Hideyoshi turned at the rest and looked over his shoulder at the slender woman who came up to stand beside him, that naturally cold air of her's a breath of fresh air.  
"Good afternoon to you as well, Naomi." The man said pleasantly, "I take it your day has been well?"  
"With as much excitement as has been going on, I'd say so." The brunette replied, although there was hardly any warmth in her voice, "I haven't been to a single lab in the last week where at least a few people aren't giddy from all of this."  
Hideyoshi chuckled softly. "But of course!" He said, "I certainly can't blame them. This is something that we've been hoping for for as long as I can possibly remember. And to think, we could have possibly have found him years ago if we had really considered anything... But we've found him _now_ , and that is what counts."  
"Of course." Naomi agreed with a curt nod, "But even though we _have_ found him, there is still the matter of dealing with the repercussions and consequences that this could bring, legal ot not. After all, we can't fully _prove_ that he's ours without sounding like lunatics, and the lawsuits would most definitely range in brutality, no matter if we _are_ the main center of the Japanese government or not."  
Hideyoshi just nodded. "Don't worry, I've taken expert time into planning everything out." He reassured her, "As many friends as Director Otori has, _we_ are still all powerful and have far more claims than he could ever have. I'll have him on his knees before the weekend starts."  
Naomi gazed at him through her peripheral for a few seconds, as though contemplating and consulting on things that were private to only her, and then looked away once more.  
As clever and sly as the Director was, she had known him in many past years. And his ruthlessness - or recklessness - could know no bounds when it was truly stirred up. She thought about reminding him about the very beginning, where their ploy had only worked because they had claimed that child as stillborn, and had managed to dig up enough dirt on that couple to rule them down as unfit to keep that child for burial even after it was 'dead'. And the only reason that no one could actually fight them on it was that they had enough evidence of their past felonies to keep them quiet and broken down so as to never speak a word. Not to mention that neither of them had had no family, no friends, no legal figures to back them up, and that had been pure _luck_ on their part by that point.  
But Naomi said nothing of this. She knew better than to talk against the Director when he was as in a good mood as he was now.

Suddenly, the two of them heard the chair beside the Director shift and scrape against the metal tile slightly, causing both of them to look over at the boy that had been with the Director for a good part of the day. He was standing now, gripping the railing beside him with both hands to steady himself as he pushed/pulled himself up out of his sitting position.  
"Ah yes, I suppose you must be quite tired, Kuro." Director Hideyoshi said with an acknowledging nod, "You're free to head back to your room if you like. I'll send someone to check on you later, once we're done here."  
Absently, the boy just nodded, before gently pushing himself away from the railing and walking past the two adults, heading slowly for the door, monochromatic hair - ridiculously and unnecessarily long - following along behind him on the floor.  
"Have a good rest of your day, Kuro." Naomi said politely, though her voice was hard and comfortless. As expected, Kuro did not respond in any way - he never had liked her that much.  
Director Hideyoshi's teal eyes followed after the boy for a few moments, watching him steadily as he made his way to the door that opened for him, and then looked away again once he disappeared back through it.  
Smiling to himself, Hideyoshi reflected on all of the years that they had cared for him, thinking back on all the times that he had spent with that boy, sometimes thinking only of their lost subject while in his presence.  
Not that he didn't care, because he did. But it was still a wonder to think back on it all, and he marveled. To think that they had always looked so much alike...


	3. Chapter 2 - Under Pressure

Chapter 2 - Under Pressure

* * *

Somehow, the world had seemed just a little more grey ever since they had had Sakyo's funeral.  
At first he thought it was just the change in the weather, since Fall was adamantly different from summer, the forecast was typically a lot of rain nowadays, so he hadn't really paid it too much mind. But even when it was nice out, even when the colors of the leaves and trees and all other things around the city were bright and laid bare for all the see, he had noticed that the colors were still muted, as they were on dreary days. Everything just seemed to lack the usual vibrancy that he knew it _should_ have, like some sort of light had just been turnt off and hadn't come back on. He thought that maybe he was going a little color-blind, since he remembered from a science unit in school a couple of years ago that that was most common in males, but he knew it wasn't that almost right away. He didn't mistake one color for another; he could _see_ all the colors of the world, just not in the same light that he knew they originally had.  
He had attempted to look it up awhile ago, and hadn't come away with much other than random blurbs and various medical conditions that didn't fit the deal. But one of the suggestions on there had been 'Depression', and had even given a whole article that explained it and what it could do to a person's mind.  
But he wasn't depressed. Or at least... Takanosuke didn't _think_ he was.  
He had read enough of the article to get the idea of what depression was, and the symptoms, and how different age groups and sexes reacted to it. But he wasn't angry at anything, he wasn't completely hopeless... Sure, he was still grieving over it, but that had be normal right?  
He couldn't remember much from when his grandmother had died, that had been years ago, when he was still just a child and hadn't really understood the concept of 'death' all that well. But, then, she had been old, well into her time on earth and basking in the sunset of it - Sakyo had been different.  
He wasn't irritable, nor did he blame the people around him for it - he had even met Minoru not too long ago after the younger of the Hagane brothers had apparently gotten acquainted with Zyro and the others, and he had seem pretty alright. He wasn't mad at him, or at anyone, really... Yes, he cried a lot these days, but it was hard thing to go through...  
He wasn't detaching himself from the rest of them, he wasn't _not_ trying. He could still get up in the mornings and do his chores and eat breakfast and hang around. He never spent too much time with his dad anyways, since he was always working and was hardly ever at home at all.  
He could take care of himself as he typically did.  
He was fine, wasn't he?

These thoughts continuously ran through the blonde's head as he lay on his bed, staring at the open door to his room, on top of the blankets and fully clothed, half curled into a ball of too big clothes and heavy red sheets.  
He had noticed that he was finding himself here in this way more often than not these days - curled up on his bed in some form, listening to nothing but the silence that eternally reigned in the air, staring at whatever his eyes just happened to land on. It was a habit that he had developed not long after they had gotten back, and it often kept him cooped up in the house far more than it probably should. But it left him alone to his thoughts, to his memories, to his anguish and laughter and grief and joy and-...  
Okay, maybe he might be a _little_ depressed, since that did sound a little screwed up now that he really thought about it. But it wasn't a big deal. He was still okay, for the most part. It just hadn't been the same since Sakyo had died, and he couldn't help himself from thinking about it every now and then.  
The last memory he ever had of his friend had been of his face, shouting at him with raw desperation and fearful agony that was altogether cold but still fraught with emotion that only Sakyo could really muster. After that there was nothing; nothing except for the blood-soaked room that they had come back too, a place that he had once thought of as beautiful and incredible.  
He had never been able to get that image out of his head, of the blood that had been splattered across the floor, gathered in pools where the stone dipped slightly from its even terrain. And that always brought him to the one question that never left him alone... What had happened to Sakyo in there?  
Sure, Alcorin had described it in his own sickeningly sadistic detail, but that had never been enough, never really registered. It wasn't a happy thought, but it was something that plagued him nonetheless.  
He never allowed himself to think about what else had been on the floor, though.

Takanosuke breathed out a heavy breath through his nose, and then pushed himself up into a sitting position, bringing his legs up to his chest and curling in on himself once more in that position, allowing his cerulean eyes - uncharacteristically somber and dull - to gaze aimlessly towards the bean bag chair that he had had since forever.

...

Nope. Still in the same position as ever.  
He hadn't even sat in that thing for the longest time, not since he had first started spending full days with Sakyo and trailing along behind the elder wherever he had gone. But those days were gone now, had been since the moment he had run out of that room in the fear that had consumed him all too entirely, the thundering orchestra of wolf paws rumbling at his ankles.  
For awhile he hadn't even really been _capable_ of believing it.  
Even after what Alcorin had said, even after seeing that room painted with blood and still filled with the lingering stench of death and bone and unheard screams, he hadn't been able to actually _believe_ it. Or, at least, a strong part of his mind had been unable too. But the rest of him had always known, had not been clouded in the denial that had plagued him all the way back to this city that held so many of his memories.  
But then Sakyo's funeral had happened, and that had been the nail in the coffin. Somehow that had been the knife that cut through the last string that had still allowed part of him to deny that his friend was actually gone, and after that he had had nothing left to cling to, and he was left alone with his grief and scattered remembrances...  
He breathed through his nose silently again, and then shifted a bit to look around, searching for where he had put his phone. Sometimes he forgot where he put objects nowadays, when they were in the plainest of sight or simplest of places to remember.  
He found it on his bedside table, right under the antique lamp that he had inherited when his grandmother had passed away (he had always loved playing around with it when he went over there, even though there shouldn't be too much that was so interesting about a lamp), and reached over without moving from his spot to retrieve it.  
Once he did, he returned to his original posture, but this time he focused his eyes on the screen as he turned it on and started flicking through the dozen photos that he had on there.

He had lied that day, at Sakyo's funeral.

He had said that the framed picture he had leaned up against Sakyo's gravestone was the best picture that he had of his friend, but that had been a lie.  
Sure, it was one of the better ones, but the best one he had was from later, after the aforementioned photo had been taken, and it was the last picture in his Camera Roll.  
Not too long after he had pulled that surprise selfie on the elder blader, Sakyo had seemingly decided that he wanted revenge for that.  
That day, not too long before they had learnt of Alcorin's victory and Gingka's supposed death, they had both been on the sea-walk that wound its way along the ocean-facing edge of the city, and Takanosuke had pulled out his phone to take a picture of a seal that had popped its head out of the water, since the sea mammals weren't a very common sight around this area of the coast of Japan. He had gotten a fairly nice picture, but, before he had even had the chance to look at it, Sakyo had come up from behind him and, being much taller than Takanosuke might ever be (or so he told himself), snatched his phone out of his hands. And just as the blonde had turned around to question the red-and-white-haired blader, Sakyo had placed an arm around his shoulder - as Takanosuke had done only a couple weeks prior - and lowered himself to Takanosuke's relative height before snapping the photo that the blonde had had no time to prepare for or foresee. Just as quickly as it had happened, Takanosuke had suddenly found his phone back in his hands, with Sakyo standing up to his natural height and claiming that they were going on.  
Of course, the Griffin Blader had been dumbstruck for several moments, and it had taken a good few seconds before he actually looked down at his phone in his smaller, gloved hands. The camera had still been open, turned into the front-facing view, as Sakyo had set it. Curiously, he tapped the bottom left corner of the screen, and brought up the surprise selfie that Sakyo had taken.  
It was practically a complete parallel to the one that the blonde himself had taken before, although Sakyo still took up about 60% of the screen, with himself as the one taken off guard by the unexpected act. And there was Sakyo, pressed up against him with his arm around his shoulders, a serene calmness having washed over his face in those few seconds with his lips forming the smallest of smiles that could have gone unnoticed.  
In that moment, Takanosuke had been unsure of what he felt, but the sudden warmth that had flooded his chest in that moment was the one he _had_ been sure of. He could have sworn that he had almost felt like crying in that moment, but he hadn't, and he had soon heard the elder blader calling his name, causing him to look up and see the mentioned redhead looking at him over his shoulder with that typical look of icy indifference.  
However, it had been a face that he had always been used to, and he gladly followed along behind the Dragoon Blader.

It was the same picture that the blonde looked at now, the last one that he had on his camera roll and the last that he would probably have for awhile. Even with as much light and goodness that it held, a snapshot of a happier time before things that truly gone to hell, it too was as dull as everything around him. But that didn't take away from the small bit of warmth that pooled in his chest as it had all that time ago.  
Sakyo had never smiled often. Or at all, really.  
Takanosuke had never seen Sakyo smile for himself outside of the photo that the redhead had unexpectedly taken that day, and that had to be the only time that he had seen such a thing on the Dragoon Blader's face.  
No, the one that he had placed at Sakyo's grave wasn't the best that he had, but he had not found the heart to put the one his usually bright eyes were currently looking at there instead. It was too close to his heart, and, although it was selfish, he had decided to keep it for himself.

It was only then that he suddenly heard a knock at the door downstairs, the thin walls of his father's house making the pounding resound loudly throughout and easy to hear.  
No one ever really came to the house that much, since his father was never there and nobody ever really came looking for Takanosuke. Except for one person, and the boy knew by now who it was. After all, she had been the only one for the past few weeks who had actually come to check on him.  
Slowly, Takanosuke got off of his bed and left his room, making his way down the single, carpeted hall of the second floor to the stairs, and heading down the wooden steps in his socked feet with his hand on the ancient banister. The front door came into view as soon as he was halfway down, set nearly dead center in the middle of the wall and leading into the living room, while an archway on the right of coming in lead to the dining room.  
He already knew automatically who would be standing outside of it, so he never had to wonder.  
But he didn't even make it to the bottom step before his vision suddenly blurred, black spots forming around the edges of his sight and blackening his view of the world as his head suddenly pounded painfully in a spontaneous headache.  
The blonde didn't feel himself stumble, gritting his teeth and squeezing his eyes shut as the relentless pounding in his head overtook all of his senses, making him yelp unconsciously in pain and raise a hand to his head, gripping his blonde curls harshly as the images flashed before his eyes forcefully, a stinging sensation forming deep behind his eyelids.

No, no no, not again, no...

 _A train, silver and stark in the setting sun_...

What? No, why?...

 _White walls, grey walls, green walls?... Footsteps.._

He felt a warmth from somewhere in the center of his face, and felt that familiar thick wetness rolling down from his nose...

 _Ruin... everywhere... Black smoke and rubble, distant... screams? Yes.. no... Yes.._

He didn't even notice that he had been falling until a splitting pain erupted through the side of his head, his shoulder quickly following along with the rest of his body, and it was only then did the visions suddenly vanish and the world suddenly came back to him. And he was left with a pain in his head and his shoulder that momentarily dulled everything.  
He faintly heard the sound of the unlocked front door opening on its slightly creaky hinges, and the sound of her voice reaching into the house.  
"Oh my god!" He heard her exclaim suddenly as his hearing and awareness slowly started to come back, "Takanosuke!"  
And before he knew it, a worried Ren Kurenai was by his side, helping him sit up from his position on the ground.  
"Oowww..." The male blonde groaned as he raised a hand to his head, feeling the bruise that was forming just an inch and a half away from his temple.  
"Are you okay?" Ren asked worriedly, helping him scoot up against the closet door right opposite the stairs, her concerned brown eyes scanning the side of his head and his face, "Hang on, I'll get... Uhh.. Something!" With that, Ren was suddenly on her feet and bolting towards where she knew the kitchen was...

* * *

It was only about twenty minutes later that Takanosuke found himself on the living room couch holding an ice pack up against the side of his head, while Ren held another one on his left shoulder of which he had also hit when he had fallen off the stairs.  
"So, how did you manage a fail like that?" The Phoenix Blader asked as finished wiping off the few remaining bits of blood from under Takanosuke's nose with a wet paper towel.  
"I tripped, I guess..." The Griffin Blader replied sheepishly, shrugging his one good shoulder, since it was advised that he not move his other one for the time being.  
"You guess." Ren pointed out, tossing the damp, pinkish-brown bundle of paper towel onto the coffee table in front of the couch and leaning back with her now free hand on her hip, "I kinda doubt that falling down the stairs _really_ makes you get a nosebleed. Unless you fell on it, which I know you didn't."  
Takanosuke looked at her for a moment, before moving his gaze off to the side with an uncertain look on his face.  
Ren didn't know about his visions, or about any of the 'Seer' heritage in his family - he had never felt comfortable with telling her about it, since he knew there was the possibility that she might think of him as crazy or off his rocker.  
Then again, she _had_ been the one to apparently be possessed a number of times by two different people on several different occasions, and had also been one who had seen most of the otherworldly things that had gone on in their pursuit of Alcorin, so there _was_ also a strong possibility that she may believe him. Even so, he didn't take the chance of it.  
Ren sighed beside him, her shoulders sagging dramatically.  
"Look, you don't have to tell me if something's wrong," She reminded him as she had several times in the last month or so since she had come to visit him, "but just don't go falling down the stairs all the time. It worries people, and it could end badly if you go hitting your head like that. _Especially_ on _wood_ floors."

"It's not like I mean too!" Takanosuke protested, sweat dropping slightly.  
"Yeah, I know, but try to refrain from it as much as possible, alright?" Ren asked curtly, and Takanosuke nodded his promise to that. "Good." Ren responded, satisfied.  
Takanosuke smiled awkwardly at that, and decided to change the topic of conversation.  
"Yeah, so..." He started, "Why did you come over here, exactly? I mean, other than to 'see how I'm doing', like you usually do?"

"Oh, yeah!" Ren said as though suddenly remembering, "Well, I came to check on you, really. You didn't show up when we went to see Zyro off, so I was wondering if something else came up."

"That was _today_?" The blonde asked, suddenly exasperated and shocked at having received this sudden news, and when he saw Ren nod he slumped both of his shoulders and looked down at his lap, "Dammit, I forgot... Sorry."  
Ren just smiled at him.  
"Hey, don't worry about it." She said dismissively, "It's not that big of a deal. Besides, you're not the only one who didn't show up, since I'm _pretty_ sure that Zyro may have invited Kira to be there... But, anyway, don't worry too much about it, it's cool!"  
Takanosuke raised his right arm and gently scratched the back of his head sheepishly.  
"Still, sorry about that." He apologized again, "I even wrote it down on the calendar too... I think."  
Ren audibly stifled a laugh with her one hand. "Yeah, well, it's all good!" She reassured him with a lightheartedness that he had long learned was just so like her, "Besides, he'll be back eventually. I think we've grown on him a bit too much for him to be able to stay away." At that, she winked, and Takanosuke laughed lightly, although it did make his head hurt a little.  
That was true... He didn't know Zyro as well as the rest of them did, but it was obvious that Metal Bey City had really grown on him, as it seemed to with a lot of the people who came and went all the time. And Zyro, in turn, had grown on a lot of people who _did_ have their homes here as he had also grown on them along with the city.  
The people who left always seemed to eventually come back time and again, even if they could never stay, so there was no need in doubting that Zyro _would_ definitely plan to come back to their great city, and that was most definitely something to look forward too.  
But even with those thoughts, Takanosuke could never shake the images - blurred and vague as they were - that had appeared before him earlier, could never get rid of those sights and sounds, and even smells that he could swear actually _could_ make their way through his senses. He never could... And in all the times that he had ever supposedly foreseen anything, he could never trust those visions to be false even if he wanted to. And the last one very deeply worried him.  
"Okay, just keep this here," Ren started, emphasizing what she meant by balancing the ice pack she had been holding on the boy's shoulder, "and I'll go make us some of that tea you have!"  
Wordlessly, Takanosuke just nodded, and watched as Ren stood and walked around the couch to make her way to the kitchen again, grabbing the discarded paper towel on the coffee table on her way. It was only when she got to the archway that lead to the kitchen did she slow and stop, before turning around with a raised eyebrow.  
"Wait, you _do_ still have tea, right?" She asked.  
Takanosuke shrugged his one shoulder as he looked over his other one at her.  
"We have iced tea, I know that..." He responded somewhat lamely.  
Ren kept gazing at him a moment longer before shrugging her shoulders. "Good enough!" She said, and then continued on to the kitchen and out of sight.  
Once she was gone, Takanosuke sweat dropped. She was a good friend, but she sure was something else, sometimes...

* * *

Kira wasn't sure exactly _why_ he hadn't gone to see Zyro off that afternoon. He had been invited by the Ifraid Blader himself less than a week prior, and the raven had even said that it was fine either way whether he showed up or not, which meant that Zyro wouldn't mind if he didn't.  
But he still wasn't sure _why_ he had stayed away... He had thought about going, he would admit. He had thought about it longer than one probably should on such a thing, debating silently on the unnecessarily troubling subject as he lay facing the ceiling, his body still as stone on the sheets of one of the beds provided in the 'living quarters' at the Bey Stadium, where all the ex-DNA bladers were still currently staying for as long as it was provided.  
And in the end, he had decided not too, although he could never give a reason why he came to that decision. And he wouldn't ever say 'because he didn't feel like it' or 'didn't want to', because by now that was hardly an excuse.  
Maybe he could have used it if he hadn't grown so close to Zyro and the others in the past while, but he had. Sure, he wasn't necessarily _close_ to them, per say, but he had found that he had developed a sort of... Likeness towards them. Zyro, especially, was in the center of that soft spot, but he would not admit that to anyone.  
Maybe that was why he had stayed away.  
Whatever the reason, Kira couldn't understand it, and it frustrated him to not understand himself, especially after all of these years that he had spent with no one _but_ himself.

"Pft..." He seethed quietly, his one eyebrow pulled down in a look of irritation, "Ridiculous..." The more frustrating part was that he didn't know who he was calling 'ridiculous'.  
Him or them. Maybe both, he didn't know.  
Silently, he pushed himself up into a sitting position, resting his arms lazily on his bent knees as his pressed together his purple lips in thought.  
It hadn't been too long after they had all returned to Metal Bey City that Kira had finally come back to the rest of the ex-DNA bladers, who had been lazing around ('as per usual', he had thought bitterly) with nothing to do other than train, although most of the training they did was unnecessary. Or so they claimed, at least.  
None of them had said anything about him going off to join Zyro and his friends in their 'escapade', but had simply welcomed him back with a vague passive-aggression that did not go unnoticed in the air. The only people who had lacked the passive-aggressive attitude had been Yoshio and Genjuro, the former of who had been genuinely happy for him to have returned, and the latter of who had understood his reason for going as much as he _could_ understand.  
Genjuro had simply flashed him a look, and the Bahamoote blader had to guess that the Genbu blader had a little 'chat' with them. Or at least as much as Genjuro could have a 'chat' with anyone.  
Since then, things had gone back to their relatively 'normal' state when it came to the ex-DNA bladers, only now they weren't training as rigorously or frequently, since they knew that the tournament had no hope of starting back up any time soon with the school year fast approaching. Which still left the lingering question of what all of them would do when it came to that, since none of them really _had_ anywhere to go.  
Kira had thought about that briefly, but had simply just decided that it wasn't worth the time to really consider. It wasn't like he - or any of them, really - could suddenly just show up as the new students in class full of well-behaved, proper youth after all the things that they had done. Half of them, himself included, were hardly sane or orderly enough to even make it past a school office. Not that it mattered, either way.  
All of them had fairly well agreed that it was best if they stayed as they were: together, in their little group of outcasts in Metal Bey City, no matter how connected or disconnected they happened to be. But now Kira wasn't too sure _what_ he was going to do now.  
Now that Zyro and all of his other friends were heading back to school as well, and the former to his home town of which he knew was quite a ways away. It was strange to think of Zyro not wandering around somewhere in the city with his friends. Hard to imagine him not being there because, for as long as Kira had ever known of him, Zyro had been _here_ , in this city.  
Of course, he had known him about as long as any of them had for the length of summer, so of course it would strange to see him leave, although it was definitely necessary on the raven's part.  
Okay... Maybe he _did_ care about him a little, but that was besides the point...

Kira sighed irritably and swung around atop the sheets of the bed to place his feet flat on the ground, and stood up promptly, making his way down the walkway between the beds that lined the room and over to the hallway that lead out of the makeshift 'bedroom'.  
He knew it was too late to say goodbye to Zyro by now, the digital clock that he could sometimes bring up in his eye patch reading 5:37pm. But he might as well head over to the train station anyway, just to say that he had indeed went there, even if he was not there to see the Ifraid Blader off. Maybe it was stupidly sentimental, and he could safely assure himself that it was, but he didn't care at that point.  
Zyro had done a lot for him, even after all that he had done to cause his suffering back when Doji had still had them wrapped around his little finger, so he could do this little thing for him in return. All of the ordeal with Alcorin be damned...

* * *

Typically, Sichiro considered himself quite good at being able to handle most situations under pressure. There were people that would easily agree with him as well, most of them being colleagues and co-workers from Headquarters, and the Chief of their 'Technology' department.  
He did well at completing projects and crucial work assignments on short notice, even if they weren't of the most top-notch quality, and he knew how to stand in front of crowds and speak, and he knew how to work on multiple things that needed to be done at nearly the same time.  
He was good at that.  
But being 'under pressure' was one thing - this was something else.  
'Under pressure' was not how he would describe the itching in the back of his head, the constant worry that plagued him and caused him to pace around frequently at night when he was trying to sleep, the uncontrollable reflex of glancing over his shoulder no matter where he was that he developed, the overstimulating fear that _they could know, they could be watching_.  
Anyone who knew would call him unreasonable, crazy, even, and he knew that. So he did his best to push that raging anxiety into the back of his head when he was in public, did his best to seem normal, like he _was_ getting enough sleep as he once used too.  
But he knew that people noticed, because he could never hold it down. And the worst part was that there was no possible way he could say a word about it, lest he put his own life and the lives of possibly dozens - hundreds - of others at risk  
. And even if that didn't happen, people would dub him crazy, because 'how could such a thing be possible, be allowed?' they would ask.  
But it was possible, and there were, contrary to what one might think, quite a lot of people who knew.  
He had known from the moment he tapped that button that it was a mistake. He had known and yet he had done it anyway, pure impulse fueling him in that one moment and going against the logic that he so prided himself on most of the time, that had kept him alive all these years. The only thing that had gone through his mind was the _fear_ that they might _know_ , that they were _dangerously_ close to _knowing_ , and in that moment he had made that split second decision that he knew he shouldn't have. But he couldn't stand to think that they _knew_ , that they had that information, and he couldn't stand to ever think of _her_ being antagonized and objectified like that by them.  
So he had gotten rid of the thing that he had seen on that screen, and hadn't realized until moments later that he may have just signed the contract to dozens of peoples' death sentences, including his own.  
Of course, any other person would point out that it had been little over a month and nothing had happened in response to that, so everything must be _fine_ , they would never know, never figure it out. But no.  
Sichiro _knew_ them. Had always known them, and he knew that that man was not one to make rash decisions unless a situation desperately called for it, and this was not one of those situations. He was like a snake, cold and predatory, and Sichiro knew better than to underestimate that terrible man, because he had access to technology that most countries, and even most of this one, could only dream of having. And, after all of these years, there was no telling how far they could have advanced it.  
So when people said that it was useless to be so paranoid of 'being watched', Sichiro could only possibly laugh at them, because he had _every_ reason to be scared. He always had.  
And he was scared now, just as he always was nowadays, and just as he had always been for all of his years since then without realizing, as he sat in the dark space of his living room in his small apartment, huddled on the burgundy, leather armchair that he had bought at one of the large thrift stores on the west of town. Still in his work clothes, long black hair pouring over his slim shoulders and blending him in almost entirely with the blackness that came with having no lights on.

It was like this most days when he returned home. He would have all the lights off, the blinds and curtains closed, most of the appliances unplugged because _yes, they could use those_. The only light that he allowed to be on was the stove light, and occasionally the emergency blackout light in the bedroom. But, even then, he knew they could probably be watching, because how could anything - anyone - ever be away from them?  
This thought was what constantly plagued him as he sat there, along with many others that wouldn't dare leave him be, and he huddled him closer on himself like some scared child in the dark of night, afraid of monsters under the bed. Thinking constantly...

They _know_ , they _have_ to know, how could they _not_?

And of course, he knew that that was his fault.  
He had been trying to protect her, protect _him_ for years, even if indirectly. He had always known from that moment that he would never see her again, and he had been fine with that, because he had believed the same as her; _nobody_ deserved a life like that. He had always been trying to prevent it, even if he had never realized it before now, prevent _anyone_ from ever knowing. But he, in his idiotic impulsiveness, had caused everything to start come crashing down. And it was only a matter of time before the first physical move was made.  
And, sometimes, he wondered if this was how she had felt in those last few years. After all, something had to have driven her towards it, right?  
There was always a reason. And Sichiro now believed that he may have understood hers...

 _Knock Knock Knock_

The sudden pounding that came against the heavy wooden door to the apartment nearly made Sichiro jump out of his skin and off of the chair, the silence of the house unexpectedly torn away by the loud intrusion. He swiftly turned around and looked towards the general direction of the door, the knocking now having gone silent as the person outside waited for the door to be answered.  
And that person could be anyone.  
Cautiously, Sichiro got out of his armchair and made his way around it, body rigid as he peeked around the corner towards the front door, a thin beam of light protruding from under it. Of course, the lights were always on out in the hall, as most apartments tended to leave them that, and he could clearly see the beam interrupted by two separate shadows spread evenly apart - feet.  
The raven didn't dare turn any of the lights on, and crept along quietly to the door so as to not alert the person outside that he was home if they happened to be someone that he didn't want to come in contact with. He held his breath, socked feet padding lightly against the carpet, stepping over that creaky floorboard underneath a patch of it, and pressed himself against the wall just behind the door, his heart beating frantically in his chest.  
Slowly, he reached across the length of the door towards the doorknob, altogether leaning forward to look through the peeky-hole in the center. But before he got to it, a voice - a female voice, muffled slightly by the separation of the door - suddenly called out.  
"Sichiro?" A voice that he knew all to well spoke, "Are you home?"  
One huge, collective sigh of relief escaped the raven's mouth, his tense shoulders lowering as his body instinctively relaxed. However, the dread that had come upon him didn't face. Hesitantly, he reached up and unhooked the door latch before actually opening it, and revealing the all too familiar face of Ayano.  
"Oh, hey." The raven greeted as casually as he could, "I didn't expect to see you here."  
Ayano shrugged her lithe shoulders, which were now covered by a long-sleeved pink shirt that he had seen her wearing a number of times when she wasn't at work.  
"I was walking by, so I figured I'd stop by for a couple minutes." The greenette explained, her hair out of its usual bun but tied into a low ponytail that was equally as tight, "If that's alright?"

"Oh, yeah!" Sichiro said somewhat awkwardly, and stepped aside to allow her entry, although he knew it might not be the best decision, "C-come in."  
Graciously, Ayano stepped inside the apartment and onto the carpeted floor, slipping out of her black heels and leaving them by the front entrance behind her colleague's.  
"Sorry, it's pretty dark in here." Sichiro apologized, reaching past her to flip on one of the light switches which turned on the light above them, and then heading off into the living room/kitchen to turn on the rest of the lights - or at least the ones that were necessary to have on.  
Ayano followed along behind him slowly, her cerulean eyes gazing around at the pasty white walls of the small apartment and the few framed pictures - all of painted scenery - that hung in the hall and above the couch and television and 'dining room' table. Sichiro couldn't help the prickle of nerves that went through him, but forced himself to calm down.  
Of all people, the last person that he really wanted here was Ayano.  
Yes, he dreaded the white and black suited men that could possibly show up, the official looking persons that could have come knocking on his door any time during the last many years, feared them in his dreams and in his waking hours.  
Ayano was not any of those people - sure, she was a very sophisticated and professional woman, but she wasn't _them_. He didn't fear her coming for him, but he _did_ fear her ability to read him, as she had almost always been well capable of, and for all he knew she could be seeing every one of his secrets like he was an open book.

"Would you like anything?" He asked her as he flipped on the kitchen light, trying to seem as casual as possible, "Coffee? Tea? Anything?"  
"No thanks, that's okay." The greenette replied as she stood beside the couch, her arms folded loosely over her chest, "Besides, I don't think you could make any, anyway..." She gestured to just to the side of him on the counter, where the coffee maker stood, "The coffee maker's unplugged, as I see."  
"Uhh... Yeah." The raven said awkwardly, steel grey eyes looking anywhere but at her, "I, uh... I unplug it when I'm not here to, um, conserve power..."  
Slowly, Ayano nodded, her cerulean eyes never leaving him except to glance around a small bit.  
"Okay..." She said, although Sichiro knew that he could not convince her of that, "You seem to unplug almost everything else, too." Of course, she had noticed the cords of the table lamps hanging off of the wooden furniture they were placed on, and had also noticed the lights that _should_ be on above the fridge were off as well, as well as the timer light on the microwave and the TV, who's cords lay hanging out from behind the stand.  
To that, Sichiro said nothing, and she never missed the way that he refused to look at her. Her dark green eyebrows pulled together on her forehead, her face frowning worriedly.  
"I'm guessing you keep all the lights off when you're at home, too?"

"Ayano, where is this going?" Sichiro very nearly interrupted, but had managed to restrain himself long enough to wait until she had _just_ finished her question.  
"You should know where this is going." The greenette accused, her concern prominent, "Sichiro, I know your work hours like I know my own schedule, and unless you _just_ got here, which I _really_ doubt, you've been home for the past two hours... And I think that's enough time to plug everything back in."  
The raven could feel his heart pounding against his rib-cage, the nearly painful thudding an unwelcome guest, and he fought to keep his breathing right as he gripped the edge of the counter top. This is what he had always been afraid of - someone, _anyone_ , figuring out _anything_ about him, being able to read him like she knew how too.  
It had never bothered him before now, because before now he had had nothing to worry about, nothing to really _hide_ because he had a completely different life here, where nobody knew who he had been or the things that he had done.  
It hadn't _mattered_ before now. But, then again, he had always known he wouldn't be able to run away from it all forever, no matter how hard he tried to act like there was no problem, like everything was fine. He had done that for _6 years_ , back then. Maybe just a month more had actually been the limit.  
"Why are you here?" The raven asked, although he knew the answer, willing himself to look over in his companion's direction. At first, the green-haired woman didn't answer, but then she did.  
"I'm worried about you, okay?" She said after their brief silence that could span centuries, "And others are worried about you too... You're not getting enough sleep, you're barely _talking_ to anyone anymore, you keep acting like something's watching you, or just _wrong_ , and _yes_ , we've noticed." She said when she saw the look on his face like he was about to protest, "Don't try to tell me that nothing's bothering you, because something _is_ bothering you."

"It's fine, it's not important..." He lied through his teeth, "It's... It'll been fine, eventually..."  
"Bullshit..." Ayano stated with a slow shake of her head, her eyes digging into him like they always had been able to, "'It's not important', huh?... If it's bothering you for the last _month_ , then, yes, I think it's probably pretty important, Sichiro. Whatever it is, you can tell me! I'll listen, you _know_ I will."

"Yeah, but it's not something you just _talk_ about." The raven ground out, his skin flushed white, folding his arms over his chest tightly.  
"Did something bad happen?" Ayano asked quietly, her voice soft in the silence that filled the apartment, "Is it family? Are you hurt? Sick? In trouble? What's going on? Please, just tell me. Whatever secrets you have, they're safe with me, I won't tell a _soul_."  
"Yes you would." Sichiro said suddenly, his voice firm and dead set on the apparent mere thought, and her eyes widened slightly at his change in tone. She said nothing for a second.  
"Why do you say that?" She asked.  
"Because _anyone_ would say something." Sichiro said with what sounded like amused irony in his voice, "I mean, that's what you'd logically do, right? _Tell someone_? It's not like it's rocket science... You wouldn't believe a word I say anyway. Why would you?"

"Sichiro." The greenette said firmly, which managed to drag the raven's steel-colored eyes over to her, "We've know each other for _years_ , I seriously doubt there's anything you could tell me that I wouldn't keep a secret if you wanted me too. I just want to know what's wrong, I want to help!"  
"Well, you can't!" The raven-haired man shouted suddenly, making the already pale woman pale even more as she jumped at the sound of his voice - angry and frustrated, hurt, afraid... "You can't help!" Sichiro went on, steel eyes narrowed dangerously with his whole body turned towards her, "No one can! Trust me, I _know_! Sure, you can try to fix things all you want, but _this_... It's not possible to fix something like this, it never _has_ been! The only thing that trying to help with something like _this_ is good for, is killing people! Don't you get it?!" After that he suddenly fell silent, panting harshly from his frustration and anger, and it took several moments before he finally realized the mistake he had made. He quickly lifted a hand to cover his mouth, eyes wide in fear as he stared across at Ayano who stood just as shocked as he was afraid and guilty. Looks like a month really was all he needed to snap.  
"S-Sichiro, I..." Ayano tried to say, but her voice stuttered and failed, leaving her looking dumbfounded and completely lost for words as the raven himself was. "I-I'm sorry, I... I-I didn't... I didn't mean..." She tried again, but still she was unable to find the words.  
Sichiro didn't blame her.

"Please..." He whispered over his hand, lowering it slightly from his face and refusing, once again, to meet her eyes, "Just _go_... Please..."  
The quiet that filled the space was unbearable, and both of them were unable to ignore the fact that it was there as Ayano carefully backed out of the room, her cerulean eyes eyeing the floor, her bare feet not making a sound against the rough carpet.  
"You _can_ talk me, you know..." She said softly, and the hitch in her voice nearly made Sichiro fall apart right then and there, "I won't judge you..."  
Then she disappeared from his sight, and the south of the front door opening and closing quietly - although it was _so_ loud in the quiet - told him that she was gone.  
Quickly, Sichiro whirled around a full 180 degrees to face the sink that was just behind him, gripping the edge of the counter top fiercely with his free hand and pressing the opposite one to his mouth again, eyes wide as he stared down into the stainless steel bowl below him.  
The nausea in the pit of his stomach was overwhelming, his throat burning and suffocating him as he felt the sudden urge to gag in revulsion. The lights that were on around him were suddenly all too bright, too bright compared to the darkness that he had become so used too after all this isolation. And the brightness that they let off seemed to weigh down on him, press into his back and blur his vision in his panic and guilt and regret.  
Of all the things that she could have ever needed to hear, _that_ wasn't one of them.  
 _Oh god..._ What had he just done?...


	4. Chapter 3 - Wrong

Chapter 3 - Wrong

* * *

The sudden screeching of metal on metal - a sound that made several people grind their teeth and twitch from the discomforting noise - was a welcome surprise that Zyro hadn't expected so soon.  
He had been doing the Word puzzle that Madoka had gotten for him ever since he had left Metal Bey, and had to admit that it was strangely fun and almost addicting. Sure, it nearly fried his brain for how hard he thought on some of the puzzles in there, but he was stubborn, and it was fun to figure them out and get the end result. Madoka sure knew how to find the fun ones, that was for sure. Not to much that was it a good way to kill time.  
He took the pen he was holding and hung it from the page he was on, and then tucked the puzzle book back into the open top pocket of his backpack. He then slung the bag over his shoulder again, and adjusted the one strap he was using so that it was more comfortable, then sat at the edge of his seat with his left hand placed on the railing beside him.  
It wasn't long before the train came screeching to a full stop, and the doors slid open almost immediately, allowing all of the current passengers - which was really only 10 people, including himself, for as far as he could see - to exit.  
Zyro was one of the five people that stood up, and headed for the door, finally stepping out of the large metal snake of a machine and back into the real world.  
The bright, golden-orange light of the sunset in the distance was one of the first things that hit him, making him squint and lift an arm up to shield his arms briefly. The light - a beautiful combination of warm colors - reflected off of the silver surface of the train behind him, the windows and hoods of parked cars cars, and even the metal mailboxes standing side-by-side on the sidewalk of the road ahead. The smell of pine trees from the forest that bordered the Northwest side of the town permeated the air, shared by the scent of steam and sweat and perfume and all the bodies that were gathered around. The cool autumn breeze blew against his side and stung his cheek with it's hint of a winter nip, and it did an excellent job of waking him up from his weary state induced by the train ride.  
The raven blinked and lowered his hand that had blocked his face from the light of the setting sun that set the clouds and sky on fire with a golden beauty, and made his way away from the train and out from the platform.

Omitama, in all of his years of being here, had never really changed all that much. It was a fairly small town, but it was big enough to supply all the necessities that a place like this would need, which included several hardware and grocery and furniture stores, along with mechanical help, plumbing, and the list could go on to a point. But it never seemed to change that much, other than the very occasional construction sites where something was being built or torn down, or when new mailboxes were put in. Those, however, were typically irrelevant.  
Zyro just shrugged his shoulders at that thought and made his way over to stand in the shadow of one of the several buildings that lined the left-hand side of the station. Only then did he finally get a chance to look around, although there really much for him to see in terms of scenery and view that he hadn't seen several times before in his youth. There were surprisingly quite a few people at the station today, with seemingly a couple dozen people boarding the train for the scheduled departure time.  
What time _was_ it, anyway?  
Briefly, Zyro swung his backpack around on his shoulder, and unzipped the front pocket where he stored his phone and the smaller bits of supplies he had purchased for school.

5:58

Almost 6.  
Which meant that if he left down the road within the next twenty minutes, he could probably make it back home by about 7:30 or 8, as long as he kept a fairly brisk pace. Approximately, anyway.  
Math wasn't necessarily his strong point, but if he knew how to estimate distance and time, and also compare them together, in his head fairly well after 2 years of 'high school', than that had to count for something.  
"Okay, good." He said to himself after he made his approximate equation, and then tucked his phone back into his bag and slung it over both shoulders this time, ready for the trek that would lead him home.

"Zyro Kurogane?"

The raven nearly jumped slightly at the sudden sound of his name, and turned swiftly to the side to see who had spoken. When he turned, he found himself facing a man and a woman, both older than himself but still fairly young in appearance, both of who looked a little startled at his sudden alertness.  
"Whoa, sorry!" Said the man, raising his hands and eyebrows with an apologetic smile on his face, "Didn't mean to scare ya!"

"Uhh..." Zyro droned briefly, feeling a wave of awkwardness sudden come about him.  
It took a moment before he simply smiled apologetically in return and rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.  
"I-it's okay!" He reassured them, "Sorry, I just didn't expect that..."  
The man chuckled softly in response, and smiled cheerfully at him, lowering his hands again.  
"No, it was my mistake." He insisted, "You _did_ kinda look a bit out of it for a moment, so I probably should've known better. But we had to catch you before you left... You _are_ Zyro Kurogane, correct?"  
Zyro lowered his hand from his neck, gripping both straps of his backpack gently. He took a moment to look over the twos' appearance.  
The man had to be no older than thirty, perhaps - or definitely - younger, with dark green eyes and short black hair that stood out against his strikingly pale skin.  
The woman, on the other hand, had to be about Madoka's age, with shiny, rust-colored hair brought over her shoulder in a ponytail, with eyes the same brown as mahogany wood and a pleasant smile. Both of them were dressed professionally, but in a more... casual, sort of way.  
"Uh, yeah." He answered after looking them over, "Why?"  
Silently, Zyro hoped that these two weren't news reporters or journalists that wanted to interview him on the spot, and was only really comforted in the idea that they weren't by the fact that he wasn't seeing any notepads out, or any cameras or microphones in their hands.  
"Oh, right, how rude of me!" The man said with a nod, gesturing first to himself, "My name is Kyoji Maeda, and this," he gestured to the woman beside him, who hadn't said a word the whole time but was still gazing at him with a friendly smile, "is my wife and business partner, Aiko."  
The woman, Aiko, waved politely at him, but still said nothing.  
"She's mute, if you're wondering." Kyoji said in answer to his thoughts, and Zyro nodded politely, giving her a smile of his own in response. She seemed to appreciate that.

"Anyway," Kyoji continued on, "We're from the local WBBA agency, just a few towns away, and we were just recently called here for contemplation on upgrading and adding some new arenas for the locals here to use. We just happened to see you arrive while we were working, and we were wondering if you would be able to give us your input on any of the ideas that we and our colleagues have."  
Zyro's eyes widened in surprise at this sudden proposal, and he felt the excitement of such an opportunity almost immediately, his sky blue eyes brightening automatically in child-like enthusiasm. He almost said yes without another thought, but then remembered that he _did_ have to leave soon if he was going to get home at a reasonable time.  
"Well..." He said, looking down slightly, and scratching his cheek lightly with the tip of his fingernail, "I'd like too, but I _do_ have to leave in a couple of minutes if I'm gonna make it home in time..."

"It'll just take a few minutes, no more." Kyoji insisted with an honest smile, "We _promise_ we won't keep you long. We wouldn't want to get you in trouble with your parents, after all!"  
Zyro gazed at the man for a moment, and glanced over to Aiko briefly before looking to the bottom right of his eyes in thought.  
He really _should_ get going; he didn't want to worry his parents, and he knew that the road to his town could get dark and even dangerous when it got really dark out and the animals came out of hiding, so he really _should_ leave... But, even still, the chance to get a say in that sort of thing was a a bit of an exciting thought, and they _did_ say it would only take a few minutes... Well, he could make pretty good distance in a short amount of time if he really needed to, and surely giving a little bit of input wouldn't take _that_ long, right?  
The guilty part of his conscious told him that this probably wasn't the wisest of ideas, but he shoved that part aside and told it that it would be fine; he could still make it home in good time even if he lost a few minutes.  
"Just a few minutes, right?" He specified with Kyoji, who nodded in response with a smile.  
"Promise." He said in response, and Zyro slumped his shoulders slightly with a brief sigh. He then looked up again with a bright smile.  
"Okay, sure, I can do that!" The raven agreed happily, and both husband and wife in front of him looked equally as cheerful.  
"Great!" Kyoji exclaimed happily, "Good to hear it. Our colleagues are just a couple blocks away." He gestured over to his left down in the direction the main street ran, "We'll take you to meet them quickly, if you wouldn't mind. They'd be _honored_ to meet you, and, either way, it'd be better if we're all there to hear from you, rather than just the two of us."

"Uh, y-yeah, sure." Zyro agreed with the same upbeat attitude, although he grew a little flustered at the thought of people actually being honored of meeting him. Sure, that had happened a few times back in Metal Bey City, with young kids and even a few teens and adults, but it still managed to get to him.  
Honestly, how many times did anybody expect people to be honored to even be in their presence?

...

Well, Gingka probably expected it a lot by this point in his life, considering how he'd actually saved the world once, but still.

So, with that decided, Zyro followed along beside the two of them as they lead the way to the building they had mentioned, and, along the way (although it didn't take too long as it was only a couple blocks as they said), both Kyoji and Aiko made friendly conversation with him.  
Aiko asked him questions about what he was doing in Omitama and how his day was and how he felt about Neo Battle Bladers and the BTF via notepad, of which she had pulled out of her back jeans pocket. Kyoji mainly gave him some basic ideas of what they were thinking about doing and what their colleagues had been coming up with so far and allowing him to get a feel for what they were trying to get at.  
From what they were able to explain, Zyro was pretty sure he understood it well enough to give a bit of input on what he thought about it. After he did that, he could hopefully get going again.  
As well as he could tell, he still had about 12 or so minutes to leave if he was making it back home on his originally planned time. And even if he didn't leave by then, he was sure he could still make it if he hurried.  
"Ah, here we are!" Kyoji announced cheerfully as they approached the building that he had vaguely mentioned, and curved off to the left on their side of the street.  
Zyro looked up at the building that all three of them had come too, halting for a moment to study it in his curiosity. He knew this building.  
It had once been the old Community Centre, but it had long been torn down from its original use and was now used, he believed, as an office building, where the Mayor and other associates of the town would gather occasionally for updates on its finances, and taxes, and all of those other things. Or at least, that was what it was being used for the last time he checked, and he didn't doubt that it was still that way. He supposed that it was reasonable for Officials and associates of the WBBA to be making base here, since it was the only place he knew of in this whole town that had an actual conference room (it had a few, actually) for meetings and discussions.

"You coming?" Kyoji asked from the door, which he was holding open for both Aiko and said raven. Zyro snapped out of his temporary trance and shook his head a moment to regain himself, and then remembered where he was.  
"Oh, yeah!" He said, smiling a little awkwardly before going along behind Aiko through the door, who chuckled soundlessly.  
Zyro followed the two of them through the building, heading up a few flights of stairs to the third floor and walking through lazy office places and empty hallways. There didn't seem to be too many people around, let alone people actually working, and those who were didn't seem too enthusiastic or urgent about it. Zyro raised an eyebrow a bit as they passed through the 3rd office area that they had seen, where only 11 people, out of about 25-30 desks, were actually seated and working halfheartedly. No one looked up from where they were, though, and Zyro just looked away and followed along behind both Kyoji and Aiko.  
"Alright, here we are." Kyoji announced once more as they came up to one of the several doors that lined the 3rd floor corridor. The man stopped in front of the door, and then looked towards Zyro.  
"You ready?" He asked.  
Zyro smiled and nodded.  
"Yeah, for sure!" The raven said cheerfully, which made the man smile wider.  
Kyoji then reached forward and took hold of the doorknob, twisting it open and allowing Zyro first entry out of courtesy.  
Zyro quietly thanked him as he entered the room, and halted just a few feet in once he saw the group of 5 people who all sat around the table towards the far end of the large conference room, which was decorated pleasantly with some plants and illuminated with a line of rectangular windows mid-way up the walls. The windows didn't do too much good, however, since the sun was almost on the other side of the building, which just cast a weak, orange glow into the room. What few electrical lights were on were on a dim setting that allowed just enough light to see across the room.

At first, none of the five who sat there noticed them enter, and continued, for a few prolonged seconds, to discuss and bicker about topics that Zyro could barely make sense of in near-whispered voices with various hand gestures.  
It wasn't until that one of the men actually facing in their direction spotted them out of the corner of his eye that the conversations were finally brought to a halt, and all of those at the table, male or female, visible in the dim lighting or not, turned to look at the three who had entered the room.  
" _There_ you are." A slightly older man at the table said with a shake of his head, eyebrows raised at, seemingly, both Aiko and Kyoji, "We were wondering where you two got too."

"Oh, you know..." The younger man said nonchalantly, "We've been around. But that's besides the point... 'Cause look who we just happened to come across!"  
Zyro could practically feel rather than see Kyoji gesturing over to him, and he raised his hand a bit in an awkward, shy wave.  
"Right!" Said a fairly young, red-headed woman at the table, raising an eyebrow in a way that Zyro couldn't really recognize, "I _thought_ you looked familiar."

"Zyro Kurogane." Said one of the men at the table, all of whom seemed to be a little older or younger than Kyoji was, who was now standing up and making his way over to the three of them gathered, "What an honor to finally meet you."

Smiling, Zyro shook the lightly-bearded man's hand. This was followed by several other greetings from the 3 others who had been sitting at the table along with him, including the redheaded woman who had spoken earlier.  
"I never thought we'd actually get this chance." Said one of the other men of the group, who looked to be the oldest with his silver-white hair, "What a wonderful opportunity!"

"I'm impressed." Said the redheaded woman, crossing her arms over her chest, "You two don't do too bad."

"And you _still_ doubt us..." Kyoji said in a condescending tone.

"I never said that." The redhead responded nonchalantly.

"Well then!" Said another man, middle-aged and slightly bloated, whilst clasping his hands, drawing most people's attention, "Now that you two are back, and you-" He gestured to Zyro, who smiled shyly after still not being used to being treated as important as he apparently was, "-are here with us, I think we can get down to business, now can't we? I'm... _certain_ that most of us are eager to discuss what is needed."  
All of the adults that were gathered around nodded in agreement, glancing to and fro each other to assure that they were all on the same page. Zyro glanced around at all of their faces, still feeling a little off at being among all of them.  
"I should hope so." Said a new voice that drew Zyro's attention, being one that he hadn't heard before now. The resounding 'clack' of heels against the tile below them suddenly made itself known to his hearing. The three people in front of him glanced back over their shoulders, and the older man and the redheaded woman both moved to opposite sides to clear the way for the woman that stepped through them and made her face visible in the dim light.  
Whoever she was, she looked to be fairly middle-aged, judging from the few wrinkles that decorated her cold, stoic face. Her brown hair was pulled back into a tight bun that could never possibly let any hairs loose, and her dull green eyes, colder than ice, gazed at him from behind the glasses perched on her long nose. She, unlike the others who stood around him, was dressed professionally with no casual or nonchalant detail about her.  
Truth be told, she was actually quite intimidating.

"After all, we've been working up to this for a very long time." The woman continued, "And I don't think we're just going to let this opportunity go to waste."  
Zyro stared at her for a moment, eyebrows knitting together in his confusion. Slowly, he shifted from foot to the other, and raised his right hand half-way in a still wave.  
"Uh..." He started dumbly, "Hi."  
His 'lost-for-words' greeting pulled a tight, amused smirk out of the icy woman, who uttered a soft grunt in the form of a brief laugh and shut her eyes briefly.  
"Cute..." She said, the hint of a cruel laugh hidden somewhere in her voice. She then opened her dull, icy eyes, and that smile - however slightly twisted it was - disappeared altogether from her face.

"Maeda."

Zyro was hardly able to register it as he felt a strong arm wrap around his upper torso and pull him back roughly while another hand, smaller, slimmer, was placed harshly over his mouth.  
He reacted instinctively and kicked out, bringing both hands up to pull and scratch and tear off the arms that held him, tried to twist and pull away and do anything he could to just _get away_ as everything in his brain screamed **DANGER**.  
A sharp pain in his neck made him stiffen, and he tensed violently as he unconsciously let out a cry that was muffled by the hand that covered his mouth. His eyes were wide, pupils shrunk to pinpricks as his heart pounded uncontrollably in his chest. His breathing panicked and quick through his nose. Looking through fear-stricken vision as the 5 people before him - especially _her_ \- just _stood there_ and _watched_ as he struggled against the people he had thought he would be able to trust.

 _Why weren't they doing anything?_

Why were they just

standing _there?_

Zyro tried to keep struggling in his panicked frenzy, but his limbs suddenly fought against him, growing heavier and heavier by the second. His vision, already hazy and tunneled in his fear, blurred steadily until all he could see were the vague outlines of the people he had so come to fear in the few moments he had known them. His breathing relaxed alarmingly quickly, his pounding heart slowing against his will, his eyes fighting to stay open even as his eyelids slowly sunk over his vision.

 _No no no no don't go to sleep_

It wasn't long before Zyro was gone to the world, his body unconsciously submitting to the deep sleep that forcefully overcame it, and all senses dying as he was lowered to the floor. But by the time he placed there, he was already too far gone...

* * *

"Good." Naomi said coldly as she gazed down at the now unconscious teenager on the floor, "That went a lot more smoothly than originally planned."

"He's trusting." Kyoji said matter-of-factually as he capped the syringe in his hand and wrapped it in a white cloth, " _A lot_ more trusting than he should be. That's his problem... Made it a hell of a lot easier, though."  
The middle-aged man of the group crossed his arms over his chest, eyebrows raised scornfully.  
"And aren't you just so lucky to have all of the _easy_ jobs, huh?" The man questioned sarcastically.  
"Oh, shut up..." Kyoji replied bitterly with a sneer as he handed the covered syringe over to Aiko, who took it wordlessly and wrapped it in a plastic baggy that she had pulled out of her breast pocket.  
"Enough talk." Naomi ordered them sternly, "We don't have much more time in here, so gather him up-" She gestured with her eyes towards Zyro, "-and head for the car. Do _not_ let anyone see you. The Director will not be pleased if we lose him _again_."

"Right away." The dark-haired, bearded man of the group said obediently in say for all of them, before he crouched down to the ground and picked the unconscious teenager up bridal style. The redheaded woman then picked up the backpack that had been discarded on the ground for easier carrying of the boy, and held it up.  
"What should we do with this?" She asked.  
"We'll take it with us." Naomi answered as she walked to the door, "We can't have anyone finding it and growing suspicious... Besides, we could probably use some of the things in there to our advantage if we need too."  
She stopped in the door-frame, the resounding 'clack' of her heels on the tile ever present, and she looked back over her shoulder with those loveless eyes of hers.  
"Meet me around back, the car will be there." She ordered, "And, again, don't let anyone see you."  
With those final commands, Naomi disappeared through the door, and was closely followed by the elderly man, the middle-aged man, and the redheaded woman, who had passed off Zyro's backpack to Kyoji.  
The door was shut behind them, indicating to all other staff that the room was supposedly unoccupied at the moment. That only left Kyoji, Aiko, and the bearded man who held Zyro in his arms, all of whom had a different plan of escape due to the luggage they carried.  
It was a bit hard to see in the dim lighting, but there was another door on the left-hand corner of the room, just behind one end of the conference table, which lead through several other rooms in the building - ones that were typically unoccupied at this time of the day - and that would eventually lead them down a stairwell and out through the emergency exit that left out into the back alley. It wasn't like the area was a secret to everyone, so there could definitely be the risk of meeting someone out there that they didn't want too, but it was the best place they had to conceal themselves for the time being. Whoever had designed the building in the first place sure had weird taste, but it was definitely fortunate for them.  
Either way, it wouldn't matter, because in just a matter of minutes they would be hitting the road and leaving this small town for the area where the others had been sent to meet them in a chopper. From there, the boy would be taken back to where he had once belonged.

"Let's go." Kyoji said, checking his watch quickly as he slung Zyro's backpack over his right shoulder, "That interview in here is at 6:30, we need to be gone by then."

"Right." The bearded man agreed, and immediately turned and made for the other door in the room, followed by the Kyoji, and, soon, Aiko.  
It took the slightly older man a moment to reach out and open the door with the young teenager in his arms, but he quickly got a hold of the knob and twisted it, swinging the door open to reveal the darkened room beyond. Both him and Kyoji walked through the doorway, and Aiko made to follow them.  
However, she halted in her tracks as she came to the border of the threshold.  
Her grip on the baggy in her hands tightened, trying to ease the trembling that she couldn't control and that made her teeth chatter as she bit at her bottom lip. The coil in her stomach - which hadn't been there before now - was tight, painfully so, and the sweat that trickled down the back of her neck made her shiver harder.  
She looked back over her left shoulder into the dimly lit conference room, her brown eyes trembling, suddenly feeling uncomfortable beyond the words that she could never speak.  
Only then she did really take a good look at their actions, what had transpired in there, what they had been planning for over a week.

God... He was, what?  
Fifteen?  
Fifteen and they had...

But it was for the best, they had always known that, and that was what they had always agreed on.  
That was what this job was all about when it came to the things they did. You couldn't have any hesitation, any second thoughts, you just had to _do_ according to plan. You had to disconnect yourself, or, if you couldn't, convince yourself that it was all for the best, all for the 'greater good', even if it wasn't true. She had done worse things than this to better people. And with them she had barely hesitated, barely stopped to think about what lives they had, what they were taking them away from, what they were stripping them of. She, and the others that she worked with, had barely blinked at those things.  
So why?... Why did _this_ just suddenly feel so... So _wrong_?

"Aiko, let's go." Kyoji's voice said from the other side of the room beyond the doorway she stood in, which snapped Aiko out of her wandering thoughts and brought back into the reality that stood before her. Her eyes shot back up to her husband, who stood there gazing at her silently, waiting for her to come along so that they could get out of this place before anyone could realize what was going on or catch them.  
Shakily, she swallowed, but stepped over the threshold anyway, shutting the door behind her and snapping the lights off so that it really could seem like no one had been there beforehand...

* * *

Minoru could pinpoint the _exact_ moment when he felt that something was wrong.  
It was just so _sudden_ , so unexpected, that he could well distinguish it from all other feelings. The rock that suddenly dropped in his stomach and made him feel slightly nauseous was one part of it, and then there was the goosebumps that raised all over his skin and the hairs on the back of his neck that stood up stock straight and refused to lay back down.  
All he had been doing as sitting in one the small little coffee shops in town, sipping at the now lukewarm hot chocolate that he had purchased and playing a round of Sudoku when that sudden wave of uneasiness swept over him and left him very - underline _very_ \- uncomfortable.  
Carefully, he set the pen in his hand back down on the table and then folded his hands together in front of him, watching as they trembled ever so slightly. He swallowed thickly, and then closed his eyes as he willed the feeling to go away, the small shivers that kept running down his spine unnerving in the least. He hated it when this happened.  
It may have been surprising, but it wasn't like this was necessarily anything _new_.  
Sometimes, back when he was just a preteen between the ages of eleven and fourteen, he would get the same sorts of 'feelings' that something was wrong for seemingly no reason. All of those episodes were sometimes far apart in occurrence, or would take place over a series of days all lined up in a row.  
His uncle had dismissed it back rhen, insisting that there was nothing to worry about when they lived in as peaceful a place as they did, and Minoru had taken his word for it.  
Now he kept getting them again, and this time he actually knew what was causing them.

Gingka and him had never really been the most 'normal' set of twins to start with, anyway, so having a sort of unconscious mental and spiritual connection probably wasn't too out of the ordinary for them. He assumed it was what most people called a 'twin thing', where they would sometimes finish each other's sentences or know when something wasn't right with the other. Only, in their case, on steroids.  
These bouts of uneasiness and worry came upon him quite often these days, especially considering Gingka's fragile mental state and occasional but severe relapses due to his PTSD. Those could get bad enough to the point where he himself had to stop entirely what he was doing and take a breather. He could hardly imagine what they were like for Gingka.  
In the time that he had realized and come to at least mostly understand their 'twin thing', he had also come to acknowledge the connection that he had with Zyro.  
It wasn't an insanely strong one, but it was still there. He didn't finish Zyro's sentences, nor did he ever know what exactly _could_ be wrong if something _was_ ever wrong, but the two of them were still connected in the way that the elder of the two could somewhat understand and sense Zyro's emotions.  
It really wasn't that surprising after all of the dreams that they had once shared with each other where no words were ever spoken, so he didn't say too much on it.  
After all, he _had_ made the kid.

...

Yup, that _still_ sounded weird.

But the point was that if he had gotten one of those 'feelings', than that could mean one of two things.  
1: Something was going on with Gingka and he was having one of his moments, or 2: Something was wrong with Zyro.  
Either way, Minoru didn't feel especially good about either of those options, especially the latter.  
What could be wrong with Zyro if that was indeed the case?  
Had the train broken down?  
Was he not able to get home?  
Had he gotten lost?  
Had something else unrelated to that have happened? He didn't know.  
Whatever the problem could be, it was enough to make Zyro possibly worry, if that was actually the emotion. He really couldn't tell, since the raven was now so far away.  
Whatever the matter might be, whether option one or two, whatever possibility or fact, Minoru knew that he didn't like it. But it wasn't like he could actually do anything about either situation at the moment, since visiting hours at the hospital - let alone the psychiatric ward - were long over, and Zyro was at a place he hadn't been before.  
Sure, he _could_ probably just teleport to Gingka's room to check on him like he had that one time, (one of the few times that he had actually used his teleportation abilities after the Alcorin ordeal) but, when he had, Gingka had altogether freaked out and it had taken him a few minutes before he had actually been able to calm back down again.  
His brother had forgiven him easily, but Minoru knew better than to do try that again.  
And, either way, he couldn't just go to wherever Zyro was, since he had never been to or seen the place. For all he knew Zyro probably wasn't even _in_ Omitama at all, so that wouldn't help him much.

Minoru sighed quietly, tapping his left index finger against the knuckles of his right hand as he could do nothing to get rid of the uncomfortable worry that had come over him, other than wait for it to die down and go away.  
Maybe he shouldn't really do that here, though. Nobody liked being in the presence of someone who looked nervous or kept fidgeting.  
Thankfully, his hands had stopped trembling enough for him to reach into his jacket pocket and pull out three dollars in change for a tip. He then took one last, quick drink of his half-full hot chocolate and it on the table with the pen and the change. He got up while doing the zipper of his jacket all the way up to his chin, and then left the coffee shop with the sound of the door bell tinkling in his ears.


	5. Chapter 4 - Unthinkable

Chapter 4 - Unthinkable

* * *

"He should've been home by now." Ikiyo muttered aloud as she anxiously paced around their small kitchen/dining room, arms folded tightly over her chest as she bit her lip nervously, "He should've been home over and _hour_ ago, and he's not here..."

"Ikiyo, I'm sure he's fine." Saburo insisted for what had to be the dozenth time in the last hour and half, watching as his wife paced uneasily around and around, back and forth, "You know Zyro, maybe he's just running a little late. I mean, you know the train that comes through here gets delayed sometimes. Who knows, maybe he's just going at a slow pace, I mean... I don't doubt he'd be a little exhausted, it must've been a long day."

"Yeah, I know..." Ikiyo admitted nervously as she glanced towards the clock on the wall once more, now reading 9:48pm, "But I'm worried... I've tried texting him and calling him, but he won't answer!"

"Well, maybe he just has his phone turned off." Saburo said, shrugging his broad shoulders as he watched, helplessly, as the brunette paced, "Or it just went dead, you know he doesn't use it much. Maybe that's why?..."  
Ikiyo stopped her pacing to raise one hand and place it over her forehead, shadowing her troubled green eyes.  
"I don't know..." She grated out, frustration and distress evident, "Maybe you're right, but..." She lowered her hand from her forehead and finally raised her gaze to her husband, who stood watching helplessly as she tore herself up, "Something just feels _wrong_ about this, like _really_ wrong, I just can't put my finger on it..."

"Ikiyo..." Saburo said with a small sigh, finally walking around the kitchen table and over to the brunette, "... Look. I know you're worried, and I understand that. He's my kid, too, but you shouldn't just tear yourself up over this, we don't even know if anything's actually wrong."

"I can't help it..." Ikiyo said stubbornly, looking away from the man as he approached her, feeling the burning pull of the tears in her eyes that she refused to let fall, "...He's not home yet, he's not answering his phone, we haven't heard from him... We never even _wanted_ him to go to Metal Bey City in the first place, remember?..."  
Saburo stopped as he came up to her, looking upon her with forlorn brown eyes. Those same eyes widened at this words, and he looked away for a moment. Silently, he sighed through his nose.  
"Yes, Ikiyo, I remember that..." He said softly, and hesitated for a moment, "But he turned out fine, didn't he? I mean, he's made friends there, he's had fun, he _won Neo Battle Bladers_ , and that's _pretty_ amazing. None of those are bad things!..." "No, they're not bad in and of themselves, and I'm proud of him!" Ikiyo explained, turning once again to look up at the man that stood before her, a desperate agony on her face, "But did you even stop to think for a moment that, that... I don't know, _maybe_ something bad could come out of that?! His face is _everywhere_ nowadays, and we were supposed to keep him _here_ , and protect him from-!" All at once, Ikiyo seemed to lose her voice, choking on her own words, and she fell silent before she could say anything else. Her eyes remained on her husband for a moment longer before she folded her arms back over her chest and looked down at the ground.  
Saburo already knew what she meant without her having to say it, and his eyes softened more than they already had. Now he understood why she was so upset about all this...  
Zyro was their child, and Ikiyo loved him more than she loved life, and he _knew_ that her heart would break if anything ever happened to him. But now the deeper fear behind it all was clear. He himself hadn't even _thought_ of that possibility for years, since he - personally - had never found any need to worry about it.  
Because they were _here_ , and _safe_ , and out of the line of fire.  
But Ikiyo had always been different from him.  
She was prone to worrying a lot, even when it wasn't necessary, and he had always known - even if he hadn't acknowledged it at the time - that she worried a lot about Zyro, and what could have happened to him when he was just a child - what almost had. Now he realized that that was exactly what she was worried about now, but this time it was more severe than it ever had been, because this time her - their - worst nightmares could _actually_ have a chance of coming true.  
He may never had thought about it in years, but even he knew that what she had told them all those years ago was not the mere product of a dreamed nightmare.

Silently, Saburo let his shoulders sag, and then reached out to put a hand on Ikiyo's slim shoulder. The moment he did, she turned her head further away from him, unable to speak and unable to open her eyes and look at the reality that lay before her.  
She knew it was there, though.  
She always had.  
"Ikiyo..." He said softly, "Look at me, please..." Even with his plea, Ikiyo refused, and Saburo couldn't say he really blamed her at all.  
He hadn't always been the most observant or brightest of people, after all, and he had barely ever given her own worries a second thought back in Zyro's childhood. Despite his previous belief that everything would be alright, he knew that that was inexcusable.  
"Ikiyo..." He tried again, "I get it, okay?... You're worried that they'll find him, that they'll take him away and do..." He hesitated, "... Do _things_ to him, that neither you or me could ever even think about... I get that you're afraid of that-"

" _Do_ you?..." The brunette asked brokenly, disbelief at that thought lacing both syllables.  
"Yes, I do." Saburo insisted earnestly, "He's _my_ son, too, and I hate the thought of anything happening to him. But listen to me... If they were going to go after him, wouldn't they have done that already?... I mean, Neo Battle Bladers was awhile ago, and his face has been everywhere for over a month, and... Wouldn't they have gone after him already if they _did_ know for sure?" To that, Ikiyo said nothing. Saburo waited, and then continued when her silence remained.  
" _Nothing_ has happened." He insisted, "Besides, how _would_ they even know? It was years ago, they would have no idea what he even looks like now."

"You don't know that..."

"Yeah, well, give me a reason to believe that they would _somehow_ know." Saburo persisted, and waited for a few seconds. When Ikiyo said nothing, he went on, "He was a _baby_ back then, Ikiyo. That's all they ever knew him to look like! And I'm pretty sure he looks a _lot_ different now than from back then, you _know_ that."

"So what do you want me to do, Saburo?!" Ikiyo yelled unexpectedly, finally turning her face to look at him with bloodshot eyes and red cheeks, lightly stained by the tears that had started cascading down them, "Just stop worrying?! Stop thinking about where he is, stop caring?!"

"Hey!" Saburo said defensively, pulling his hand off of her shoulder and raising them at his sides, "I never said that!"

"No, but _that's_ the subtext of it!" Ikiyo argued, "You want me to stop worring! You've _always_ told me to stop worrying, that 'everything's going to be fine', but you don't _know_ that! She _told us_ what they wanted to do with him! What 'plans' they had, and that they would _not_ stop looking for him until they had him! That's why she came to _us_! Because she trusted us, and _we_ were supposed to protect him, _here_! In our home!"

"And we _have_ , Ikiyo!" Saburo argued back, "We _have_ protected him, we _always_ have! We've always wanted what's best for him, and that's why we let him go to Metal Bey City!"

"Which was a _mistake_!" Ikiyo shouted, the forlorn anger on her face more than he could bare, "We should _never_ have let him go! Yeah, he made friends, he had a good time, he won that tournament, but what does it _matter_ if we lose him because of it?!"  
The tears now streamed steadily down her face, and her voice - angry and frustrated though it was - was wracked with sobs.  
To this, Saburo could say nothing.  
Finally, Ikiyo seemed to snap. Unable to argue anymore, she turned away swiftly and walked away at a hurried pace with her high-pitched sobs coming out at full force. And, as always, Saburo just stood there at a loss, his broad shoulders sagging and his face pained in his heart-broken uselessness.  
He flinched when he heard the bedroom door slam shut, and knew that he more than likely wouldn't be welcome in there anytime soon. And he knew that that was his own fault... He really never had known how to help Ikiyo, now did he?  
Some husband and father he was...  
Sighing and rubbing his eyes, the black-haired man sat down heavily into one of the kitchen chairs, slouching forward with his arms balanced on his knees. Brown eyes tired and half-lidded, he looked up towards the clock.

10:09pm...

Morning. If Zyro wasn't back by morning, then they would call the Metal Bey City WBBA headquarters, and talk to Director Otori, as they knew from Zyro's calls and texts and letters that he was - surprisingly enough - good friends with the man.  
Surely, he might be able to give them some info on their son's whereabouts, or he knew someone who could. If not, than they would call the local police, and set up a missing persons report.  
Silently, Saburo prayed to whatever God was out there that it wouldn't have to come to that...

* * *

Throughout the last several weeks, Madoka had managed to become quite well acquainted with Minoru, a relationship that had started when Zyro had unexpectedly brought the younger Hagane twin over for hot chocolate one rainy afternoon.  
As expected, it had started out quite - _very_ \- awkward, mainly on the latter's part. That night, while Zyro, Ren, and Shinobu had been watching a movie with Maru in the living room, the two of them had gone into the kitchen and sat at the table for a one-to-one, of which had started out - as expected - very awkward.  
While she too had been slightly uneasy about actually _meeting_ Minoru, let alone talking to him, it was the man himself who was the most nervous out of the two of them. The moment he had even stepped through the door, she could see that he was visibly tense, and had a hard time actually looking her in the eye for awhile while they sat there.  
Soon enough, though, they had been able to get into a steady conversation and clear the awkwardness up for the most part, all the while discussing the needs that both of them had known needed to be talked about. It had been a heavy conversation, and one that was rather uncomfortable for both of them, but they had both agreed that they would talk about all of it right there, so that there was nothing else that should need to be cleared up in the future.  
After they did that, they were actually able to get into more casual conversation, and soon joined the younger bladers in the living room to watch the movie they had been so invested in. Minoru had tensed up again once they went in there, but eventually he had loosened up and watched the movie with them, which seemed to far more interesting to him than it was to any of them - which was probably saying a few things.  
Madoka knew from the moment she had ever met him that he wasn't as bad a person at heart as he had originally thought himself to be (as he had said back when they had had that weird excursion into his head), and that they could definitely be good friends - not to mention friends with everyone else - if a chance was given on everyone's part. She also knew from the moment he had gotten more comfortable with them that he was also going to be probably one of the most sassiest people she would ever know. And, despite his inane shyness and slightly timid nature, she was definitely right about that.

Over that time-frame, she and Maru (who had actually managed to take on a shy liking to the man) had also introduced Minoru to Tsubasa, who had more than pleased to meet the younger sibling. They too had eventually become well-acquainted with each other. Tsubasa was mainly the one - besides the younger bladers and herself and Maru - who explained most things to Minoru about Metal Bey City and all the happenings, since they had brought into account that the guy was a bit far behind the times, though surprisingly not as much as they would have expected for someone who'd been trapped in their own head for a third of their life.  
Even so, they did manage to introduce him to and get him at least somewhat familiar with the gist of things that he didn't already understand when it came to pop culture and technology, and he now often accompanied Madoka and Maru whenever they came to the WBBA to help Tsubasa on certain matters. That was why he was with them now as they made their way into WBBA headquarters and up to the forty-eight floor, where Tsubasa's office was.  
It was the day after Zyro's departure, and yet another day closer to the start of the school year, and so Tsubasa had called Madoka to come to his office to discuss what the plan would be this year for the local Bey Parks and the local Arena while all the children were away at school. It was a thing that had to be addressed for at least 9-10 months of the year, since for most of it the children of Metal Bey - and of other cities and countries around the world - were off at school and had little time to be practicing Beyblade. Apart from weekends and breaks, that is.  
More often than not, the Bey Parks in Metal Bey were closed down for most of the week, and had a strict schedule to open on Friday afternoons and Saturdays. When they were closed, they were typically under maintenance, and upgraded with any new technology that they had to offer. In other regions, they would just be straight closed through the school months, only opening for winter and spring break (which all of them did anyway), and being left open at nearly all times during the summer.  
Both Madoka and Tsubasa knew that, chances were, they might just do as they always had, and as other Directors prior - Ryo Hagane included - had done as well. However, she also knew that there was the matter of their budget in keeping the parks open, since not as much money had been made in relation to the Bridge to the Future tournament as had with Neo Battle Bladers.  
Tsubasa wasn't surprised about this, since the mess that happened with Alcorin had been a major setback on everything. However, the silverette had told her just a few days prior that he would calculate their numbers together and figure out just where they were standing at this point, and then they would go from there.  
Madoka and Maru (who knew at least a little bit about the process) had explained most of this to Minoru on their way to headquarters, and he seemed to understand for the most part, and hoped that he could possibly offer some insight if at all possible. Madoka had told him with a smile that any would be welcome. The concluding 'ding' of the elevator was all too welcoming as it finally dropped them off on floor forty-eight, and all three of them stepped out of the large metal box to head down to the Director's office. The translucent sliding doors opened for them automatically, and, upon entry to the square-shaped room, they witnessed the silver-haired man in charge shaking hands with two different people - one man, one woman, both in either a light beige suit or a navy blue one, both official-looking - before they turned to depart.  
They both said disconnected 'good day's to Madoka, Minoru, and Maru, and then left through the same doors that the former three had previously come through.

"Oh, hey, just in time." Tsubasa said warmly as he saw the three of them standing at the front of the office, "Just managed to get those numbers back from downstairs, finally."

"That's who those guys were?" Madoka questioned as both her and Minoru walked up to the Director and stood in front of his desk with him, "I don't remember ever seeing them around here..."

"Well, none of us are really _downstairs_ downstairs too often, now are we?" The silverette pointed out with a small smirk, and Madoka rolled her eyes at him.  
"Alright, so what do they say?" She asked. Tsubasa lifted the Ipad that he held in his hand - one that none of them had noticed he had had before now - and swiped the screen, letting his finger hover over it momentarily.  
"Well, according to this, we seem to be doing pretty good in our finances." The silver-haired man answered, "We still have some profit from last year leftover, so, adding that to what we have from Neo Battle Bladers _and_ from the few rounds of the BTF... We _should_ have enough to keep the Bey Parks open for a majority of the year. We _will_ have to make a schedule, though, since we can't keep them open for all weekends."

"We should get on that, then." The brunette stated, "Making a schedule all year is _not_ easy... Or fun." Tsubasa chuckled softly, before shifting his eyes over to Minoru.  
"Glad to have you here again, Minoru." He said, holding out his hand for the other man to shake.  
Minoru did so, offering a smile in return.  
"Thanks." He said, "Good to be here."  
Tsubasa nodded, and, once their hands were back at their sides, looked at the three of them together.  
"Alright, let's get to work, shall we?" He asked, and both Madoka and Minoru nodded in agreement, while Maru rocked back and forth on her heels in childish excitement. (Madoka almost swear-dropped at this, since Maru had never been one to help with the school-year schedule before, and therefore didn't really now _how_ boring it could be) The three of them took their first few steps to leave the room and head downstairs a few floors, but the phone on Tsubasa's desk suddenly ringing held all of them back, drawing all three pairs of eyes to the device that sat just behind them.  
"Sorry, I need to get that." Tsubasa apologized with a look towards both Madoka and Minoru, who both cast him similar expressions of understanding. Smiling briefly, Tsubasa walked back over the few steps it took to get to his desk and picked up the receiver after placing the Ipad in his hand just beside it, holding it to his ear.  
"Hello?" He greeted, and waited a moment before smiling softly, "Good morning to you as well, Tamako... Okay... Mrs. Kurogane?"  
That name was said with maybe a bit more surprise than Tsubasa had meant to emit, and even the three that stood watching this ordeal glanced at each other with confused expressions.  
There was only one Kurogane that any of them knew of, and that one was Zyro.  
So to say 'Mrs. Kurogane' it would, naturally, be able to mean only one thing.  
But why would Zyro's parents be calling WBBA Headquarters?

"Alright, thanks, send her through." Tsubasa finally instructed after a few seconds of contemplation on the subject, and then fell silent as he waited. He exchanged looks with both Minoru and Madoka, and shrugged his shoulders at their puzzled looks. He almost just missed the worry that was placed in Minoru's expression, tense shoulders evident to his uneasiness, and the silverette had to wonder why. It wasn't long before the line clicked through, and the Director immediately took on his professional yet welcoming tone that he had become so accustomed to using.  
"Director Otori speaking." He said to the woman on the other end of the line, "Hello, Mrs. Kurogane, I didn't expect to get a call from you... No, no, I'm not busy. What do you need?"  
Minoru, Madoka, and Maru watched silently as this one-sided exchange happened, all of them carefully observing Tsubasa's facial features as he spoke.  
No matter how hard he tried, Minoru could not quell the uneasiness in the pit of his stomach. It had settled there heavily as soon as that phone had started ringing, and he remembered back to last night, when one of his 'episodes' had come over him and left him shaking with foreboding. Now was the exact same thing, only this time it was based on this situation here, and not one miles away.  
"Yeah, we saw him off yesterday." Tsubasa answered to a muffled question, "Yeah, I'm sure. We watched him go... No, I haven't heard from him... Why?"  
By this point, Tsubasa's expression was very troubled, and he seemed to be getting more worried as the seconds pressed on, something that was shared by all three of Madoka, Minoru, and Maru as they listened and watched what was happening.  
"What?" Tsubasa questioned suddenly, disbelief and confusion filling his voice to the brim unexpectedly and reflecting in his amber eyes, "What do you mean?... He hasn't called or anything?..."

"Tsubasa?" Madoka questioned softly before she could remind herself of manners, eyebrows knit together in worry, "What's going on?..."  
Tsubasa held up a finger to wordlessly say 'one moment', and listened intently to what was saying on the other side of the phone.  
"Alright, you're sure?" The silverette asked the woman on the other end, whom of which Madoka could faintly hear.  
Whatever was going on, she sounded worried, panicked, even...  
"Okay... Yes, I'll try getting a hold of him." Tsubasa said half-reassuringly, "Yes, I'll get back to you... Yes, I promise, Mrs. Kurogane. I'll keep you updated and tell you if we hear from him... Okay... Okay, just stay calm, and don't worry, we'll try... Yes... Alright, Bye."  
Tsubasa hung up phone with unexpected force, driven by the disbelief and worry that had etched themselves onto his face and currently resided his mind.  
"What was that?" Madoka asked, "What's going on? She sounded scared..."  
They both saw Tsubasa swallow thickly, and he looked as though he were trying to form the proper words to say. As though he could never imagine ever piecing the ones needed together into a logical sentence that was true. Finally, voice heavy with worry, he spoke, amber eyes looking up into separate pairs of turquoise and golden-brown, and briefly down at a pair of lavender.

"Zyro didn't make it home last night..."

To that, none of them were able to say anything, for, to that, there was nothing they _could_ say.

 _Zyro didn't make it home last night..._

Why?  
Had something gone wrong with the train he'd taken?  
Had something happened to him?  
If so, what?  
And where was he?  
If something had happened to him, how serious was that matter?  
How serious was this?  
Pretty well all of them knew that it was practically impossible for him to have gotten lost. They had heard Zyro talk about his home near Omitama, through the forest and along one of the gravel off-roads; he _had_ to know that area like the back of his hand, from all that he had ever told them.  
After several moments, Madoka was able to say something, but all it was a stuttered question. "W-what?..."  
Tsubasa looked at her, and shook his head apologetically. He didn't know what to say to her, or to any of them. That, in itself, was a frightening thought.  
"Madoka?..." Maru asked quietly, looking up towards her teacher who returned her worried gaze. Madoka wanted to say something more, but she knew that she couldn't without voicing the tight coil in her chest that appeared just moments before. So she said nothing, much to Maru's discomfort, and simply placed a hand on that so familiar head of pink hair.  
Tsubasa glanced down at the young girl briefly, before slowly nodding his head and picking up the phone receiver again.  
"I'll try getting a hold of him." The silverette said softly, almost as if the breath had been knocked out of him, and began dialing the digits to Zyro's phone number.  
However, he stopped after the first 2, and stood there, puzzled.  
"What is it?" Minoru asked, concern and obvious uneasiness lacing his soft voice. Tsubasa raised an eyebrow, and lowered the phone from his ear, looking at it briefly with disturbed confusion.  
"... The line's dead..." The silverette answered, his quiet voice loud in the silence of the office.

The quiet was then suddenly broken by a sound that came from behind Tsubasa's desk, from the large screen that was implanted into the wall, and all of them turned in alarm to see that it had switched on - by itself.  
The screen was a deep shade of blue, like what you typically saw with error screens on old desktop computers when they crashed, with the faintest of sounds being emitted from the speakers that provided sound along the one wall.  
Almost like a heart-monitor that had gone flat-line.  
The sound from the speakers gradually got louder, until the point where all four of them were forced to cover their ears from the sharpness and volume that pervaded the room. Only after a few moments did the high frequency suddenly turn into a low static, switching in unison with the screen that suddenly became the distorted snow of television static.  
All of them were tense with anticipation and fear, staring at the screen with disturbed confusion and worry. They lowered their hands from their ears, and stood there, not daring to move a muscle lest they trigger something.  
The last time something like this had happened - even Minoru knew - it had been when Alcorin had first made himself known to them. But that had been ages ago, and that psychopath wasn't even around anymore whether in physical or psychological sense (or so Minoru had assured them).  
Maru had even taken to stepping back a bit and hide behind Madoka, clinging onto her silently as they had all waited for the last result of this unnatural phenomenon.  
And, finally, it came.  
The audible and visible static both disappeared all at once, leaving the room silent, but with them staring at a much different picture than had originally been present on the screen. For, this time, it was a face that at least two of them recognized.

"Greetings, Director Otori." Came a smooth, confident voice from the speakers that surrounded the flat-screen, matching up perfectly with the movement on the screen.  
It took Tsubasa at least 4 seconds before he was actually able to pull himself together and answer, still just barely able to register what was happening and why _he_ of all people would suddenly just burst in in 'face-time' form.  
When he spoke, his voice was uncharacteristically stiff and quiet. It was clear that he was still shaken up.  
"Director Hideyoshi..." The silverette said shakily, his caramel skin unnaturally pale for him, "We... Didn't expect to hear from you so suddenly."

"Yes, well..." The other Director started with a half-smirk, "I figured I really shouldn't bother any of your secretaries, so I simply let myself in, more or less."

"W-well, we're... A little preoccupied at the moment..." Tsubasa said uneasily, though he didn't break eye contact, "But... I'm sure that we can spare a few moments to talk about whatever it is you need..." Madoka glanced at Tsubasa briefly and nodded in agreement, though it was with less confidence than she had wanted to express. This was an action that was followed by neither Minoru nor Maru.  
"Oh, you needn't worry..." The middle-aged man said pleasantly, "This won't take long..." The shift in his tone of voice was slight, but still noticeable, and it made Tsubasa twitch with discomfort and shiver run up Minoru's spine.  
Hideyoshi's small smirk morphed back into a half-smile, although this time it had a different air to it - something far less pleasant (although the other one hadn't been that comforting either) than what had previously been there.  
"As you may notice, the phone on your desk, which _should_ be working fine, isn't at the moment." Hideyoshi pointed out almost casually, surprising all four of them at the sudden mention of that, "That's because we've disabled it and killed your line for the time being. As you may have also noticed, we did so only _after_ you finished your conversation with Mrs. Kurogane."  
Tsubasa's breath caught briefly in his throat, and his heart skipped a beat in his rib-cage. For a moment, he thought it may stop altogether.  
How could he know about that?  
"And, before you say anything, I assure you that we have a very valid reason for that." Hideyoshi explained, his tone of voice unsettling and making several of them - Maru and Madoka especially, squirm where they stood, "Simply so that we don't have any interruptions during our nice _chat_... And so that _you_ can't just phone out to anyone. Now, what was my point of this, again?..." Rhetorical question; arrogant, prideful, smug. "Oh, yes!" Hideyoshi said as though he didn't already know the answer. Unexpectedly, a venomous look in his teal eyes appeared, and it made them all shiver in revulsion. "Whatever you do, I wouldn't recommend following through with your promise to Mrs. Kurogane... Doing so will do you nor little 'Zyro' any good." As though all air had gone from the world, all of them stopped breathing at the mention of that name. Hideyoshi, seeing this, carried on. "He won't be able to answer, anyway..." The man said, "He's quite... _Subdued_ , at the moment..." "What are you talking about?" Tsubasa asked, sounding breathless by far more firm and grounded than he had been just moments before, "Where the hell is he?!"

"Oh, don't worry..." Hideyoshi said with mock reassurance, that damned smile of his never failing "He's in _good_ hands now... Just as he always should've been, from the very beginning. I _must_ say, Tsubasa, you've done an _excellent_ job of keeping him from us. You, and the Kurogane's, and Sichiro... All of you have done an impressive job at hiding him away, making sure we never knew of his existence or where to find him... I even dare to congratulate you all on that, up until now." Tsubasa's eyebrows knit together, his breathing coming slow but in rapid periods. What the hell was he talking about? "I have half the mind to condemn all of you for your traitorous behavior at keeping such a valuable thing from us, and I really _should_ punish you for it... But I'm not going to do that. And do you know _why_ , Tsubasa?" Tsubasa shivered at the Director's use of his first name, and he vaguely felt Madoka place a hand on his forearm. He must not be looking too good...  
"Because I _know_ that you're a reasonable person." Hideyoshi said fondly, looking at him almost as if he were an old friend, "And, as we are _both_ quite reasonable and logically-thinking people, you'll make the right choice in this matter. And, surely, you'll know what's _best_ for you, _and_ for the boy..." The elder man's face hardened up again, and his commanding nature - plus that smile of his - took hold. "If you _really_ care about Subject Zero, you will find it your best interest to forget all _about_ the boy. Forget he was ever in Metal Bey City, forget that you knew him, forget that he existed... You will do _nothing_ to try to oppose us, which _includes_ rising in revolt or trying to contact Subject Zero in any way or form. And, should you refuse..." A brief chuckle, "Well, you wouldn't want anything _bad_ happening to him, now would you?"

"You son of a bitch..." Tsubasa said breathlessly, shaking his head while he stared at the other Director's smug face. The look of semi-calm fury on his face was startling.

"Now, now, no need to get angry, Director Otori." Hideyoshi said with a mock fond smile, "Despite my previous sayings, I really _do_ come here in good tidings. I'm _thanking_ you for your services to us... Without you and that Neo Battle Bladers tournament, we would've _never_ caught on, and we would've never found Subject Zero again, after all of these years... So, thank you, for aiding in his return to us. But that doesn't mean your in my good graces, Otori... The boy is ours, and we will not be open to _any_ negotiations."

"You can't just do that!" Madoka accused suddenly, shocking the the other three of them in the room, "You can't just say he's yours, that's kidnapping!"

"You're quite right..."" Hideyoshi said with an amused shake of his head, "It _would_ be kidnapping... If he hadn't _originally_ belonged to us in the first place. You see, 'Zyro Kurogane', as you know him, was _always_ ours, from the time he was born to _now_. We was never the Kurogane's, not _really_. He was taken from us a _long_ time ago, so _they're_ the ones who really did the 'kidnapping'. You should be angry at _them_ Ms, Amano, not at me. Can you really argue with that, as a mother yourself?"  
To that, Madoka fell silent, biting her bottom lip roughly as her shoulders shook.  
Satisfied with the effect he had on her, Hideyoshi turned his gaze back to Tsubasa.  
"Face it, Otori." He said, his mockery fueling the fire in the silverette's blood, "You can't fight this. Not that you would _want_ to, anyway. After all, we could do some _cruel_ things to little 'Zyro', crueler than your fragile little mind could ever perceive, should you try to go against us... _Or_ , better yet, we could strip you from your position as Director of Metal Bey City WBBA Headquarters altogether! Just a click of a button, and you'd be out on the streets with nothing but the clothes on your back before the week ends... Or, perhaps, even a prison cell."

"Y-you can't just do that..." Maru protested softly, but she flinched when that piercing gaze from behind wire-rimmed glasses fell onto her. Hideyoshi just chuckled, disregarding her, and looked back to Tsubasa once more. "Oh, but we can." The man answered as though Tsubasa had been the one who had spoken, "We have a _lot_ of connections all around the world, and we can uncover a lot of things when we _really_ want to, Otori. We can, and do, know more about you than even _you_ about you... And we most certainly know that your not the _cleanest_ slate of them all... And I can even guarantee that we can 'find' some more things to add to your sin-list."  
Silently, Tsubasa balled his hands into fist at his sides, nails digging deep into the palms of his hands. Mortified, he said nothing.  
"Well then... It looks like I've gotten the message across." Hideyoshi observed, pleased with himself, his venomous eyes lingering over all of them like a looming predator, "You know what's best for yourself and the people around you, Director Otori... So _do_ play nice." With those final words, the screen when black again, shutting itself off all at once. Leaving them, once more, in a disturbed silence.  
Slowly, perhaps unnaturally so, Tsubasa turned - turning away from Madoka's hand in the process - and placed both hands on the wood of his desk, bent over slightly and head hanging as though he were about to be sick. Madoka wouldn't be surprised if he was.

"Tsubasa?..." Madoka called softly, her voice small and quiet, almost reluctant to talk to him.  
He didn't respond.  
The brunette felt the little girl by her side hold onto her leg a little tighter, and her heart clenched with grief at all that was happening all too fast. Her turquoise eyes, glazed with agony, widened once she noticed that Tsubasa's shoulders were shaking ever so slightly, his body tense and rigid with undefinable emotions that she barely had to imagine.  
The brunette had to bite down on her tongue once she saw the few drops of salt water that landed on the desk he was leaning over, and clutched both of her hands to her chest, where her heart hurt more than ever.

"Goddammit..." Tsubasa said quietly through his silent sobs, but it resounded through the office like a thunderclap. The anger and bitterness in his voice was unmistakable, but it was dampened down by something else that wasn't just grief.  
There was emotion, a feeling, in that one curse that spoke above all else, one that Madoka would never have thought she would ever have to hear again from this man.  
Powerless.  
That's what he was.  
That's what they all were.

Minoru, who had been standing off half to the side, watched this indirect exchange silently, finding he himself unable to say a single thing that could possibly make any of this better, because there _was_ no way to make this better.  
As nauseous as he felt, sick to his stomach, disgusted with the world, all he did was stand there. There was nothing he could say.  
He looked down at Maru, who was now clutching Madoka's left hand tightly, her head bowed and her small body shaking. From the tears or the fear or the anger or the grief, he couldn't tell. Maybe all of them, maybe none... Once more, he looked at Madoka and Tsubasa.  
Madoka stood there silently, helplessly, as Tsubasa poured out his restricted anguish in teaspoon-sized amounts. More than anything, she wished to comfort him, even though she too was hurting. But she couldn't. She could say nothing.  
Nothing could make it better.  
Silently, Minoru looked away, and cursed the world for it's few disgusting inhabitants...

* * *

The only sound in the home of the Kurogane's was the loud, terror-stricken sobs that issued themselves from Ikiyo's mouth, her face stained with dark tear tracks and grief so thorough that Saburo had a hard time looking at her as he held her close to his chest.  
From where they sat on the floor, leaned against the wall and rocking slowly back in forth in unison, they could hear the dial tone of the wall phone droning on and on as it hung in place, not in the receiver.  
Saburo stared at the damned thing with hate and fury in his eyes, gently stroking his wife's dark brown hair in a poor attempt to comfort her.  
But she would not be comforted, and neither would he. Not after that, not after what they had heard coming from that man's mouth over the phone.  
Ikiyo's screams resounded through the air, bouncing off the walls and ringing back to both of them with unforgiving mockery.  
"No!..." She kept chanting through her sobs, repeated over and over like a prayer to God, "Oh god, NO!..."  
There was no quiet acceptance, no silent denial of all that they had heard, but crippling desperation, unforgiving defiance agony that ripped through her like the stormy waves of the ocean they never saw. His wife's sorrow pained him more than anything, but what he felt at the moment was startling rage, fury so unforgivable that there would be no forgiven should he confess for his inner wrath.  
He would've hung up the wall phone back into the receiver by now, but he would not dare leave Ikiyo's side. Even as she thrashed and squirmed and screamed in despair, he held her tightly, refusing to let go thus he lose her to the anguish that those people had placed upon them. How such a thing could happen so suddenly, he didn't know, nor did he know _why_ this had to happen at all, why any higher being that existed had allowed this to happen...  
There would be no need to receive a call back from Director Otori. Not when they knew that it could mean their - and perhaps Zyro's - lives.  
"My babyyy!..." Ikiyo cried brokenly, burying her face into her husband's chest hard, lithe hands gripping at the fabric of his shirt like it was her only lifeline to this world. Maybe that was such what he hoped, though, selfishly in his wife's time of need.  
Saburo knew that he could never be such a thing.  
Ikiyo's life had been taken when Zyro had been...

* * *

In their silent grief and broken hearts, none of them could have possibly noticed the dark outline of a figure that stood outside the sliding glass doors to Tsubasa's office, standing at just the right angle against the wall that didn't trigger to motion sensor for the doors. Peering in through the translucent glass, frozen in incomprehensible fear.  
Steel grey eyes ripped themselves away from the blurry scene inside, a pale hand coming up to cover a quivering mouth as he stared at the floor in abject horror.  
He could've been trying to prevent himself from vomiting.  
He could have been preventing himself from crying out in terror and fear and alerting them in his presence. But he couldn't do that... Not now.  
Of all the things that he just _had_ to hear when coming down this hallway - something he had done thousands of times before -, that was the one thing he had never wanted to hear. That he had never imagined he would ever have to hear...  
Terror-stricken, Sichiro turned on his heel and hurried back down the hallway the way he had come. He made a sharp left at the elevator, and pushed open the door to the stairwell, barely pausing as he descended the floors of the building. Despite being sure to watch his step, despite the frantic thoughts and desperate plans that were coming to mind, there was only one thought in his head as he shot down the stairs two at a time.  
Hideyoshi's first move had been made.  
And now everything was going to go to hell.


	6. Chapter 5 - Gone

Chapter 5 - Gone

* * *

The loud, frantic pounding of a fist at the front door was so sudden that Takanosuke nearly dropped the pitcher of orange juice that he was carrying, but he managed to catch it just in time so that only a few drops hit the hardwood floor.  
He released the breath that he had briefly held in his surprise and then proceeded to put the pitcher back into the fridge after he had just taken it out. Orange juice could wait for the time being... Whatever Ren (and, yes, he was sure it was her) wanted, she clearly wasn't willing to wait.

"Takanosuke! Takanosuke!" Ren shouted from the other side of the door, an edge of desperate panic clinging to her voice, "Open up! Please!"  
Sensing the urgency of the situation - whatever it was - Takanosuke jogged from the kitchen and into the living room and then opened the unlocked front door (he never understood why she never just came in of her own accord at this point) to face the female blonde on the other side. The moment it was even ajar, however, Ren practically forced her way into the house. She barely just managed a 'sorry, coming in' through her frantic manner.  
"Uh, hi..." Takanosuke said quietly and awkwardly as she came in, and stood dumbfounded for a moment, watching her pace around the living room area, before he actually remembered that he should close the door.  
That done, he turned to the Phoenix blader, who paced back and forth half the length of the room, her hands brought up and together in front of her.  
Silently, he wondered what she was doing here so soon after her last visit. Typically, she would come and see him every couple or few days in a fairly stable schedule, and she was pretty loyal to it. Whatever made her break that pattern now _had_ to be something worth panicking about - especially when it came to Ren.

"Shit, shit, shit..." He heard her muttering to herself in panic, face pressed to her steepled fingers as though in prayer, " _shit..._ Oh God!..."

"Ren, what's wrong?" Takanosuke asked eyebrows knit tightly together in worry.

" _Everything's_ wrong!" The blonde girl said, ripping her hands out of their steeple position and waving them briefly, "Oh, _shit_ , why _now_?!..."  
Takanosuke watched, uncertain of what to do, as she breathed deeply, struggling to calm herself down. Her pacing slowed, but the air of desperate panic that surrounded her filled the room and was almost overwhelming.  
"Jesus, I'm sorry," She apologized once she managed to get herself to sober up at least a little, and was finally able to bring herself to look at him. "I-I didn't mean to just barge in, or anything, it's just..." She trailed off helplessly, and then weaved her hands into her hair, shaking her head with unjustified denial and disbelief written over her face. "Dear _God_!... Oh Christ, Jesus!..."

"Ren, just calm down..." Takanosuke tried, stepping forward a few steps, a hand reached halfway out to her. He did what he could to relax his own expression, but he knew that it was practically no use. "What's wrong?" He asked, "What's going on?"  
Ren looked to struggle with herself for a moment, her expression half-pained with the difficulty that came with trying to explain what her panic was induced by. To this very moment, it was obvious that even though what she knew was true, that she was still just _so_ unable to believe it.  
"Zyro's been kidnapped!" She said with a force that was practically unbearable, filled with an urgency and frantic quality that she couldn't contain as she finally said it.  
And now, Takanosuke could no longer question her behavior...

* * *

Ringing.

A loud ringing, in his ears, in his head.

Deafening, blocking out everything else.

Heavy eyelids. Almost stuck together. Struggle to open them.

Blurry. Everything's blurry.  
Something bright, overhead.

Shadows.

Muffled sounds.  
Sounds...  
Voices.

 _"He's stirring!"_

Clearer. The ringing still there.

 _"Watch him."_

Close eyes. Open them again.  
Still blurry.  
Body stiff.  
Can barely feel it.

 _"Impressive... Most..."_

Fading out. Fading in.

 _"... of course..."_

Move. Try to move.  
It's hard.  
Fingers.  
Shift them.

Metal?...  
Something hard...  
On something hard.

 _"Give me that."_

He moved his head. Right side.  
So heavy...  
Nothing clear, just shadows.

White, gray, silver... Green... Earthy colors?...  
Movement.

 _"Hold him."_

Grasping him. Hands, grasping him.  
Why?

Something sharp, in his arm, pressing in.

 _move_

A sound came out of him. Couldn't identify it.  
Hands pressed down on him.  
Harder.

 _struggle move_

It was out.  
Tensing. Shifting.

 _pull struggle get away_

Everything too heavy.  
Barely move.  
Pulling anyway.

 _"He's struggling!... waking up!..."_

 _"... sedative, now!"_

Breathing hard.  
Try to move. Move head again. Heavy...  
Shadows, light, movement.

Close eyes again. Open again.  
Someone over him.  
Vision clearer, still blurry.

 _"Hold him still!"_

Flinch slightly... Voices too loud.

Ringing.

Something sharp again, in his neck.

 _no no no fight it_

He tries.  
Hands holding him down.  
Let go!... No voice. Only theirs.

 _"... administered..."_

 _"What now?"_

 _"Scissors..."_

Heavy breathing.  
Sharp thing gone.  
Pain still there.

Blurry again...

Something scraping... Metal?...  
Head falling to the side, eyelids heavy.

Stop it... Still no voice.

Can't speak.

They can.

 _"...him... in case..."_

 _"...careful..."_

 _snip-snip_

No... Stop... No... No voice.  
Blurry.  
Movement.  
Ringing.  
Breathing.

 _snip-snip_

Close eyes.

 _don't go to sleep_

Mind fuzzy... Can't think.  
Breathing.  
Ringing.

 _snip-snip_

Voices. Sounds. Muffled...  
Stay awake... Stay awake...

 _snip-snip_

Cold...  
Fuzzy...  
Awake...  
Gone...

* * *

"W-what do you mean he's been kidnapped?" Takanosuke asked, confused out of his mind at what Ren was talking about. But, really, it should've have been _that_ hard to figure it out, because it was just as she said.  
"I mean, he's _gone_!" Ren tried to explain, unable to stand still, "Someone took him! They took him and he's gone!... And I say, _someone_..." Her voice was bitter at that last bit, and she ran her hands through her hair again, frazzling it more than it already was.  
"But, _how_?" Takanosuke questioned incredulously. He watched as Ren started to pace, but less frantically than she had before. "You just saw him yesterday, right? What happened?"

"We don't know!..." Ren answered helplessly, "We don't know what _happened_ , but he's _gone_!..." She breathed deeply, shaky from her struggle of trying not to cry (though he wouldn't blame her if she did), and she soon became bitter again. "But we do know _who_. Oh, we know who..." She said, eyebrows curved downwards halfway between anguish and anger.  
"Who?..." Takanosuke asked quietly, eyes wide as he awaited an answer.  
Once more, Ren stopped pacing, and she turned to him. The tears were on the edges of her eyelashes, threatening to fall down her cheeks and stain them, but she held back from it. From the looks of her, they were angrier than anything.  
"The WBBA..." She said in a strained voice, a voice that might haunt him forever, "the _Tokyo_ , WBBA."

Silence.

"W-wha..." Takanosuke started shakily, weakly, "w-w-what?..."  
A WBBA corporation? But... No. That couldn't be possible, could it?  
The WBBA didn't just _kidnap_ bladers off the streets like that!  
Or at least they had never done it _before_...  
No, that couldn't be it. But from the look on Ren's face, Takanosuke knew that it was.

"The Tokyo WBBA!" Ren repeated, louder this time, stretching her arms out to either side of her before bringing them in again, "Of _all_ people... Dear Lord..."

"But..." Takanosuke tried to say, though he had to wait a moment before he could actually bring himself to speak because _how could this happen?_ "But... I don't get it," Takanosuke finally said, "Why would they do that?..."

"I don't know!..." Ren repeated helplessly for the probably the dozenth time in the last five minutes, clearly distressed and unable to keep her gaze or body in one solid place, "I-I didn't really get anything about that.. some _bullshit_ of him _'belonging'_ to them, or something, I don't know!..."

"W-where did you hear this from?" Takanosuke asked, trying to get as much information as he could, "Who told you?"

"Madoka did..." Ren answered, hanging her head with her hands pressed against her temples, "W-we were just at the B-Pit, hanging out, and then she came running in and she was panicking and we tried to ask her what was wrong! And she... and..."  
Takanosuke stepped forward, gently placing a worried hand on Ren's shoulder. It was probably a poor attempt at trying to calm her down, but he kept his hand there anyway. Ren slumped her shoulders, letting her hands fall to her side uselessly.  
"I just..." She tried, "She started explaining everything, but all I really _heard_ was that Zyro was kidnapped by the Tokyo WBBA, and then _something_ about him 'belonging' to them, or that's what they said, and... Jesus, I don't know!... I just kinda ran out of there, I didn't know what to do!... So I just came here, I didn't know where else to _go_ , I just... Sorry for bursting in like this, I didn't mean too, I panicked..."

"I-it's okay." Takanosuke assured her, and pat her shoulder briefly before letting his hand fall, "I-I don't mind."  
Ren sighed heavily through her nose and shook her head.  
"Okay, just... Sorry." She apologized again, "...I should go, everybody's probably freaking out, and I'm not doing too much to help that... Sorry, again..."  
Silently, Takanosuke nodded. Ren just gave him a smile - small, weak, distressed - before walking towards the door. The male blonde held it open for her and gave her a small smile in return as she exited the house and started off down the cobblestone path.  
If he could've said anything, he would've. But he couldn't.  
Silently, Takanosuke closed the door behind her but remained there for some time after. His hand stayed pressed against the smooth mahogany wood, skin a lot paler than it had been just minutes before. Now that he thought about it, everything had been different just a few minutes ago, before Ren had come knocking.  
"Oh _God_..." Takanosuke said quietly, but in the quiet of the house, his voice was like a roar that came back to him time and again. His shoulders trembled against his will, and sudden nausea in his stomach nearly made him double over right then and there. He pressed one hand against his mouth, and slowly leaned himself against the door instead. He lowered himself to the ground at about as slow of a pace as a turtle, and simply sat there. Back pressed up against the door, he brought his knees halfway up his chest and said naught a word.  
As much as that used to be appealing before, the silence of the house was no longer a comforting thing...

* * *

When Madoka had left the WBBA Headquarters to hurry back to the B-Pit, wholly convinced that the other younger bladers - and Benkei, as well - needed to hear about this sudden and unsettling news, both Maru and Minoru had stayed behind with Tsubasa. Maru had been quick to try to follow Madoka as she always did, but the brunette had insisted that the pinkette stay there with Minoru so that they could watch over Tsubasa. Maru quickly saw the reason in this, as the silverette was far more distressed than most of them were at the moment.  
Seeing the point, Maru obliged, before heading over to Tsubasa - who was now sitting down on the couch off to the side - and sitting beside him. It had been just barely a half hour since Madoka had left the building, and, in that time-frame, Tsubasa didn't seem to be doing too much better than he had been. He was just sitting there, his hands together in front of his face, and was silent for a majority of the time. He was clearly trying to pull himself together, trying to regain his calm and orderly composure that was second nature to him by now.  
Whether or not that was working had was yet to be seen, but the good news was that he seemed to have calmed down considerably. He had long since wiped away the tears that had once cascaded down his cheeks, although the tracks left by them remained.  
Maru had been sitting there with him for the majority of the time since Madoka had left, doing her best to comfort the man. Surprisingly enough, she seemed to be doing a pretty good job, and Tsubasa had even responded to her a few times. It wasn't much, but it was something.  
Minoru observed this from where he stood near Tsubasa's desk and marveled at the small girl. A child still, but with more empathy than he had seen in most people throughout his life. She was definitely mature for her age.  
Maybe _too_ mature for her age...  
Silently, the bluenette shook his head and decided not to think about that.

"God, how could this happen?" Tsubasa said softly, almost to himself, "We just saw him yesterday, and now..."

"Well, we didn't know, right?" Maru questioned, shrugging her small shoulders, "So, you can't really blame yourself for it... I wouldn't have imagined that the Director Hideyoshi could _do_ something like that..." Tsubasa glanced over at her, a soft look in his eyes before looking away again. Finally, he pushed himself up and stood.  
"Somehow, I'm almost not surprised..." He said, walking over to his desk again, followed closely by the pinkette. He briefly wiped at his eyes again with his sleeve. "Director Hideyoshi is a powerful man... And, as the heart of the Japanese government, has the power to do whatever the hell he pleases whenever the hell he pleases..."

"So... He can just _kidnap_ a kid and no one can object?" Minoru asked, disgusted by the mere thought of anyone having that much power. Legal power, no less.  
"Oh no, people can object, no doubt about it." The silverette clarified, placing both hands on the surface of his desk as he earlier, "But I wouldn't be surprised if he used everything in his power to keep people quiet about it... Like me..." The last part was spoken almost inaudibly, but both Maru and Minoru heard loud and clear, the bitterness that embodied it too hard to ignore.  
"But..." Maru tried, and paused for a moment as though trying to find the words, "I-isn't it wrong to just _do_ that? I mean, how he could accuse you of 'hiding' Zyro from them?... W-whatever that means..."

"I don't know..." Tsubasa said hopelessly, slumping his shoulders and shaking his head, "But whatever he _thinks_ , it's enough for him to threaten and blackmail me so that we won't try looking for Zyro... Now knowing that bastard, I wouldn't be surprised if he's already sent the same message to the Kurogane's, and even Si-" Suddenly, Tsubasa stopped speaking all together just before he said the name that was on the tip of his tongue and ready to escape, a look of sudden shock and realization making itself at home on his face. Both Maru and Minoru glanced at each other, and then looked back to Tsubasa.  
"What is it?" Minoru questioned, concerned at the silverette's sudden silence.  
For several seconds, Tsubasa didn't answer, seeming to be entirely caught up in his own thoughts that were processing the idea that ran through his head. Both Maru and Minoru looked at him quizzically and started to grow worried before the Director finally spoke. "Sichiro..." He said softly, surprising them both, " _Sichiro_..."

"From Research and Development?" Maru asked, confused, "What about him?"

"That's it..." Tsubasa said without answering, "He might know!..." In a flash, Tsubasa had picked up the phone on his desk for the third time in the last hour, and, upon hearing the satisfying drone of the dial tone, dialed the number that would give way to his secretary's desk. It only took a moment for her to pick up.  
"Good morning, Director!" Tamako said warmly from the other end of the line, "What can I do for you?"

"Tamako, can you please page Sichiro Yamauchi and tell him to come to my office, please?" Tsubasa asked, hoping that he didn't sound as desperate or wound-up as he felt.  
"Oh, I'm so sorry, Director." Tamako apologized in a calm and steady voice, "Sichiro signed out just a half hour ago to go home. Said something about a family emergency. I could patch you through to his landline if you like."

"Yes, please, do that." The silverette said, tapping his right index finger against the wood of his desk in anticipation.  
"Right away." Tamako said obligingly, and it was only a moment before the line was cut off from it and was sent to a different one. The distinctive ringing from the other side of the line rang once, twice, three times. It was after the sixth ring that the line finally went through to voicemail, Sichiro's familiar voice giving his cell number and instructing the caller to leave a message.  
Silently, Tsubasa hung up the phone into the receiver but didn't move from where he was standing, trying to think critically to himself through the stress that still addled his brain. Working under pressure wasn't typically a problem for him, but this time it was a bit more than a simple deadline that was pressing down on him...

Family emergency, huh?...  
He had looked through Sichiro's file multiple times, as he did with all the files of new workers or when changes were made to any of them, and not once had he ever seen there be any emergency contacts, or any family listed down. Not anyone that was alive, anyway.  
Not even anyone that he _considered_ being family. In fact, for as long as he could remember, Sichiro's file had always been a nearly blank slate for background or familial details - other than where it listed down his mother, deceased for 20 years, and his seemingly estranged father (as was demanded for all files) - for the 8-9 years that he had working here. With no siblings or cousins or even godparents listed down anywhere, Sichiro had no close contacts with any form of family that they knew of. He had also been around many of his underlings downstairs who worked in the same department as Sichiro to know that the man never talked about his past or where he came from. So, therefore, nobody knew anything about his personal life.  
The one who knew him the best was Ayano Kagome, one of his most trusted and reliable subordinates, but even she attested to saying that Sichiro probably wouldn't tell her anything even if she held his ear in between a pair of pliers.  
So saying that he had a 'family emergency' was, somehow, a little hard to believe.  
Tsubasa, however, was not convinced that Sichiro leaving just about a half hour earlier, around the same time that they had received that damning message from Hideyoshi, was a simple coincidence. In this day and age, nothing was...

* * *

It wouldn't have mattered if Tsubasa had called Sichiro's landline or not. He wasn't even home, anyway. Not anymore, at least.  
Yes, he had been there, but only for the briefest of moments, which was spent rummaging around in his closet for a change of clothes and making sure that everything - save the phone, which he now never answered anyway - was unplugged. He had checked all electronics and had even checked the lights in his paranoia, to assure that there was no bugs or hidden cameras placed around.  
He knew, logically, that there wasn't because they could be watching him in other ways, but he had checked anyway.  
You could never be too careful.  
He had changed out of his suit, folded it neatly on the dresser, and put on a different outfit that would make him blend in. It would probably make him look shadier than anything, but he would take what he could get.  
After that, he had turned all the lights off, and left the apartment, locking the door and taking the key with him. If anyone were to walk into the apartment now, it would be dark and look nearly abandoned but for the furniture and appliances. The dresser in his room was half empty of the few clothes that he owned, the blinds closed and the lights off and the room cold, because he didn't use the thermostat.  
Anyone who walked in could almost instantly know that whoever had lived there was gone now, rushed out in a flurry of panic despite the neatly folded suit on top of the dresser.

The man who had lived there was gone. And he would not be coming back now that things were going to hell. He was perhaps one of the only people that really knew, and, although it was selfish, he was not going to risk staying there should they come for him and he not make it out of the situation alive.  
Nobody saw Sichiro leave the apartment, both because he left through the back exit and because nobody could recognize him.  
He was almost always in that suit of his, carrying his briefcase - which had been left in the closet, empty - and looking classy enough to host a party on the fly. Not now, however.  
Now he was a stranger that nobody recognized and that hardly anyone would take a second glance at when they saw him on the street. They would assume he was probably just some no-life who lived on the outskirts in the dirty neighborhoods or a homeless man that spent his days digging through trash cans and had nothing but the clothes and bag on his back.  
That was the trick to it all, to lower yourself down until nobody suspected anything of you. Of course, he had been failing to do that for the last month in his paranoia, but now the most strenuous part of it had passed.  
After all of these years, he knew how to fade into the background, how to slip off under the radar and make people oblivious to you. It was what had saved his life for 6-7 years in that terrible place, and now it was what he had to do again if he was going to live long enough to get see all of this end, no matter how it did. And, hopefully, it would end in the better favor.  
Digging his hands into the deep pockets of the hoodie he was wearing, he fingered the cell phone that he still carried with him. He had one more call to make, and then he would have to dump it somewhere, where it couldn't be found. A payphone would be smarter, and he knew that, but, with the number, the WBBA would instantly recognize it and not ask any questions about who was calling.  
After that, he would be gone. But he couldn't guarantee himself that nobody would be able to track his footsteps...

* * *

Although Naomi still wanted to at least _try_ and remind Director Hideyoshi that he couldn't always do things like _that_ and still expect no one to try and stand against him, and that a lot of their similar ploys had been mainly based on luck and what they could do when they hacked into private files and permanent records, she knew that there was only a small chance that he was actually going to listen to her.  
At any other time, in any other situation similar to this, he might have considered her words, turned them around in his mind and actually thought about them critically before acting. This time, however, she knew it would be fruitless in trying to argue with him.  
Especially since he was in as good a mood as he was, which, she knew, could turn out to either be beneficial or fatal. And, at this point, she was already beginning to see the part where this could end up bearing bad things for them.  
The Director's warning call to Director Otori had been something that she previously opposed in terms of their plan for assuring that no one looked for Zyro. The warning that they had given the Kurogane's to stay silent probably _could've_ possibly been enough, had not they made that phone call to Tsubasa about 'their' missing child.  
Of course, that wasn't _entirely_ unexpected. The Kurogane's wouldn't just sit around waiting for Zyro forever, so it was undoubted that they would have eventually called someone to report his disappearance, whether it be the 'friends in high places' that the kid had in Metal Bey City or even just the local police. Either way, they knew very well that Tsubasa would've found out that Zyro was missing no matter what courses of action they took. She hadn't necessarily opposed the idea of threatening him altogether, she had just opposed doing it so soon. However, the Kurogane's call had changed that.  
The idea that the silverette would find out sooner or later was the entire reason that sending him a warning had been part of the plan, and why it had been so well directed with plenty of Tsubasa's past 'complications' to back them up. Not to mention the 'threat' of harming Zyro should he refuse to comply.  
Even Naomi had to admit that the Director had done a very fine job of tying Otori's hands to his ankles, no matter how wary she currently was of their situation.

However, she said nothing and followed along obediently behind the older man as they both walked briskly through the pale green and whitewashed halls of the facility that was connected to the main WBBA building. They passed by many men and woman wearing prim suits, white lab coats, and even jumpsuits, all of whom greeted the Director when they had the chance.  
Hideyoshi greeted them in turn, the more than satisfied smile on his space speaking loud and clear about his current mood.  
The two of them checked in with several of the labs along the way, checking with the scientists and researchers to assure that everything else was running smoothly along with their current objective. Fortunately, there was good news all around.

"Truly," The Director started as the two of them entered one of the several elevators that manned the current floor they were on, "this is a day for _real_ celebration. To think, after all these years, he's finally in our possession again."

"Naturally." Naomi said in her usual cold voice, and pressed '3', "We always knew that Subject Zero couldn't be hidden from us forever. Unless, of course, he was just some nobody on the other side of the globe..."

"Which he is anything _but_." Hideyoshi stated, his hands clasped firmly in front of him, "Fortunate, don't you think? The very thing we had stolen from us all those years ago just _happens_ to win one of the most famous and important tournaments of the century. Quite the coincidence, if I do say so myself."

"You don't believe in coincidences," Naomi stated matter-of-factually.  
Hideyoshi just smirked at that.  
"Exactly." He said, pleased at her unneeded reminder. That just meant she still knew him as well as she always had.

With a flat _'ding!'_ , the elevator doors slid open, and the two of them immediately walked out, being replaced by another man dressed in blue scrubs and a lab coat.  
"Good morning, Director." Greeted a young woman dressed well in a dark suit who had been standing off to the side in the hall, waiting for their arrival.  
"Good morning indeed, Yui." Hideyoshi greeted in turn as the short woman walked briskly alongside him, "How is it going with him?"

"Good. They're nearly done." The blonde reported as they all turned sharply to the right and down a short flight of stairs to the sub-level, "They've collected more than enough samples from him, and they're currently monitoring his heart rate and brain waves for any activity. Everything is stable, and they've had no complications. He woke up once, surprisingly, but he was too out of it to barely even move. Still, we had to sedate him again out of precaution, so he'll definitely be out for awhile longer."

"Just as well." Hideyoshi said with a nod, "Have there been any interesting abnormalities?"  
Instead of answering right away, Yui gave a brief, amused grunt.  
"You'll have to ask the lab team about _that_ one." She said, "Let's just say that Kuro has a lot to live up too with whatever this kid has going for him."  
Hideyoshi smirked and looked ahead of him again.  
"Now _that_ I like the sound of." He said contentedly, and they both followed Yui out into the Observation Deck.  
Similar to any of the teaching hospitals found around the globe, it was like a walled-off canopy lined with bullet-proof glass along the north face of it. However, there were no two rows of built-in seats for viewing pleasure, as they were no training hospital or anything of the sort. Walking inside, Hideyoshi and Naomi were greeted with the scene that lay below on the other side of the glass.  
Similar to an OR, but for far different purposes than just that. At least 16 different Lab workers, from researchers to scientists to doctors, were all spread out across the room, and at least a quarter of them encircled the metal table of which Zyro Kurogane - as he was known to the rest of the world - lay upon.  
Unconscious, strapped down with leather restraints, the boy was laid out perfectly still for the Researchers to conduct their work, which was, evidently, nearly done, if the way that the other three-quarters of the room were currently bagging up the necessary equipment and starting to package several other things up. This time, he would be going nowhere. And this time that would be assured.

"Wonderful." Hideyoshi commented, clearly pleased, "I can't wait to see the results of what we can do with those samples... If Kuro were not impressive enough in his abilities, I can't even begin to imagine what _he_ has to offer."

"Oh, don't even get me started on that." Yui said as she folded her arms over her chest, "These folks are giddy enough as it is with being able to collect all this data from him... Seeing him in action will be an entirely different story."

"But of course." Hideyoshi agreed with a small chuckle, "They have every right to be... We've waited fifteen years for this. _Fifteen_ years... And now, finally, we're getting all we ever dreamed of."  
The Director's teal eyes narrowed in a near-predatory gaze over the unconscious boy on the table, and his smile became an unsettling smirk, filled with contemplation and future considerations. Glasses catching the light, the man looked over towards one of the 8 security cameras that lined the room, watching it from where they stood as it continued moved back and forth like a regular surveillance camera.  
There was nothing conspicuous about it, not at all. As well as he knew, it _could_ just be a regular surveillance camera, working normally as they all usually did.  
However, he knew that even _he_ couldn't possibly resist witnessing AETL history in the making.


	7. Chapter 6 - Waiting

Chapter 6 - Waiting

* * *

The first thing that came to Zyro's attention was a familiar, intense ringing. A ringing in his ears, in so far deep it was nearly in his brain. Overwhelmingly loud but unable to be quiet.  
And his head was fuzzy, almost like television static, muddling his thoughts and every other sense so that he could hardly make sense of anything. There was just the ringing, and the unbearably heavy feeling that was spread throughout his limbs, nearly tying him down to... whatever was under him. His eyelids felt like they were stuck together, so heavy that it was impossible to even try to lift them open. But he tried anyway, striving, through the fuzziness and endless ringing, to pull himself out of his half-unconscious state (And, yes, he knew that he had been unconscious because he knew by now exactly what waking up from it felt like by now).  
He struggled to open them, but, eventually, he did.  
The sudden brightness that met his blurred gaze made him issue a small groan, one that could barely be heard through his own ears even after the ringing started to lessen and he could finally make out other sounds.  
There were no shadows this time... The brightness was not as _bright_ , not as blinding... There were no voices, none of any kind, no sounds...  
Had all of that just been a dream? It had to be, right?...  
Vision still blurry, Zyro had to wonder where he was. Through the ringing that still permeated in his ears, he could hear his own troubled breathing more than feel it. His body was heavy, much too heavy, but he endeavored to move, anyway. He pulled at his arms, and twitched his fingers, tapping one of them against the soft material under him.  
Soft?... A bed? Maybe...  
Grunting softly with his efforts, Zyro turned his head to the side, and a sudden ache in the back of his head caused him to cringe. Still blurry... He closed his eyes again, his head pounding calmly, and waited a moment before opening them. The same pale brightness that there was above him, all around him... But there were other things that were there...  
A chair, a table, both?...  
Had his parents redecorated his room or something? He knew that they wouldn't just do that, but...

With great effort and a lot of strain, Zyro managed to pull his arms up until they were half under him and push himself up into a sitting position. He doubled over the moment he was sitting upright and coughed dryly into his knees. His throat was dry and sore, and nausea that filled the pit of his stomach made him whimper softly along with the ache in his cranium that still remained.  
Oh, why did he feel so terrible?...  
Slowly, he bent his knees and brought them towards himself, and then swung them heavily to the side so that they were hanging off the edge of the bed. The soles of his shoes touched the floor below, and made a small, echoing tap against the hard floor. That wasn't like the floor at home... The floor of his room was carpet. Scratchy carpet, but carpet.  
Breathing through gritted teeth, Zyro lowered his hand from his head and gripped the edge on the mattress on either side of him. The hard mattress beneath the beige blankets almost as solid as the frame that it lay upon. But why? This wasn't anything like his room...  
Unless, of course, it wasn't his room.

This thought suddenly struck Zyro violently, and he opened his eyes in shock at the memories of fear and pain and panic that all came flooded back to him. Of dim-lit rooms and staring faces and sharp pains and stiff limbs.  
Suddenly, his blurry vision was clear, and the ringing in his ears was gone. The ache in his head and nausea that was still half-present were all but forgotten, and his sky blue orbs dashed from corner to corner of this room that he had been dropped in.  
The walls were whitewashed, plain and paneled in 8 by 8 squares that looked to be made of metal. The roof and floor were the same, bright, circular ceiling lights embedded into the roof and lighting the room well. Beside the low bed of which he sat on was a metal table, chained to the floor so that it couldn't be moved, and in the corner opposite to where the bed was stood a wooden chair, ornate in design and probably one of the only sources of color that this place - whatever it was - held.

Where was he?

What was this?

Moving Slowly, Zyro pushed himself to his feet, and almost immediately staggered and nearly fell. However, he gripped the table that was just beside him and held himself there while his legs trembled beneath him.  
God, how long had he been out?... What had they stuck in him?... Something sharp, _obviously_ , but...  
Only then did the raven notice that he wasn't wearing his usual jacket, the fuzzy, dark blue sleeves replaced with a thinner, white fabric that came down to his wrists. And not just his shirt, and his pants and shoes were as white as winter, perfectly pristine and surprisingly fitting.  
When had he changed?... It was then that he came to the conclusion that _someone else_ had changed his outfit for him.  
At this point, Zyro's heart was beating so fast that it physically hurt, and his breathing came in such quick beats from his dry throat that he half felt like he was suffocating.

No, no suffocating, don't think about that...  
With a soft groan, Zyro pushed himself upright again, spreading his feet out a bit in an attempt to keep his balance. Thankfully, it worked, and after a few minutes, he was able to stand normally, even though he remained a bit wobbly.  
Nervous, Zyro swallowed the bile that had risen in his throat, and he glanced around the room again, trying to see if he could notice something that he hadn't before. But it was all the same. Bed, table, chair. White walls, white floor, white ceiling, white clothes.

"H-hello?..." Zyro called out dryly and flinched at the stinging sensation that protruded from his throat. He swallowed once, twice, three times, each just as painful the last. It didn't make it any better, but he decided that he didn't care.  
"Hello?" He tried again, and ignored the strain it put on his throat, "Is anyone there?" His voice echoed back to him in the room, the solid metal walls rebounding every sound until they eventually faded away. "Where am I?" The raven demanded, feeling his heart race nervously, "Answer me!"  
God, what the hell was going on? This couldn't be happening, it _couldn't_... For all he knew, nobody might even be listening or watching, or anything of the sort, and he could just be yelling at the walls and ceiling like some crazy person. But that thought was quickly dismissed.  
"Please, just...!" Zyro began hoarsely, and his voice died briefly as he coughed into his hand. His throat stung, and he hissed slightly as he swallowed.  
How long had it been?... That sudden thought made his heart race even more, and he was suddenly struck silent, his hand still pressed to his mouth, as he wondered just _how long_ he had been out.  
How long had _been here_?  
It couldn't have been _that_ long, right?  
He was tired, and his throat was dry, and he felt sick, but what did that have to do with anything?  
How long had he been here?  
How long since they had...

( _sharp pains and panic and fear and staring faces_ )

Swallowing thickly, Zyro shook his head and forced back the panicked and frustrated tears in his eyes that had gathered against his will.  
Don't panic, just don't panic, that only makes it worse... Don't panic...  
But his silent mantra didn't make it any better.

A sudden loud noise from the other side of the room made him jump more than he should have, and he nearly toppled over entirely. The table behind him was the thing that saved him, and he clung to it with one hand - he cringed briefly when his grip tightened - while his frightened blue eyes shot to the door that he hadn't realized was there.  
How had he not seen that before?...  
Through the door, of which had slid open and off into the rest of the nearly nonexistent door-frame, came four different people clad in dark suits. he black of their slacks, shoes, and coats and the different colors of their hair all a welcome contrast against the overwhelming white of his newfound prison. However, the professional air they gave off was less than welcoming, and the four pairs of cold eyes boring down on him made it no better. Not that he would've thought that they were, anyway...  
They all walked in nearly perfect formation towards him, and the raven couldn't help but feel pathetically small at that moment. His heart beat hard against his rib cage, and his legs felt weak from underneath him. He bit the inside of his lip until he almost tasted metal to keep from screaming, but it was nearly a poor attempt.  
It was only when they were practically crowded in around him (sparing only a couple feet) that they really stopped.

 _Don't panic, don't panic, don't panic..._  
But it was hard not too...

Suddenly, there was something in front of his face, and it took a moment for him to actually see what it was. Held from the top by a lithe hand was a white, cardboard cup. Like the kind you typically saw in hospitals... Slowly, he moved his gaze along the arm holding it, and found himself looking into the indifferent eyes of the one woman of the group. Obviously, she wanted him to take it... Like he was really going to do _that_. Taking caution, Zyro slowly shook his head and lifted himself back onto the edge of the bed.  
"It's just water." The woman reassured him, though not exactly kindly, and still continued to hold it out for him to take.  
Eventually, he did, if only to get them to leave him alone. He pretended that he could care less about it, when, really, it soothed his throat wonderfully when he took a few small sips of it.  
All they really did was stand there and watch him, which was... Unsettling, to say the least. Who _were_ these people?  
What did they want?...  
"Now, now, let's not crowd in on him too much." Came a deep, uncomfortably smooth voice from the direction of the door, and Zyro felt his heart nearly skip a beat. For what reason, he wasn't entirely sure, but it made him clutch his paper/cardboard cup like a lifeline.  
Silently, the four finely dressed adults looked over their shoulders slightly and obediently stepped aside to allow the man who had entered - whoever he was - to see the raven for himself. Wary and frightened blue eyes locked onto the man the moment that he came into his field of view, and Zyro could feel the shiver that crawled up his spine and the goosebumps that rose unpleasantly over his skin. He suddenly felt incredibly small under that teal-eyed gaze that observed from behind wire-rimmed glasses, an angular face dressed with a venomous smile disguised as that of a welcoming one, and could feel himself instinctively curl into himself where he sat.  
One part of his mind cursed him for doing so, but at this point, he couldn't bring himself to listen to it.  
The man walked forward at a leisure, but professional, pace, his hands together in front of him and his posture giving off a superior and threatening air to him. Even if it there hadn't been anything seemingly intimidating about him, Zyro was sure that he wouldn't have liked him either way. After all, he _was_ here.  
Wherever 'here' was...

"Well now..." The man said in a deep voice, smooth and speculating, and Zyro was confident he didn't like the way that those eyes gazed at him, "It looks like you're finally awake... Though I must say, I expected you to be asleep for much longer than you actually were. One of the many very _special_ things about you, I'm sure..." Zyro swallowed thickly, and slowly brought the cup of water to his mouth again.  
To this, the man smirked slyly. "Oh, where are my manners?" He asked, and put a hand to his chest, "My name is Director N. Hideyoshi, I'm sure you may have heard of me before."

Hideyoshi?

Wasn't that the name of the Director of the Tokyo WBBA?

"Even if you haven't," Hideyoshi continued, "it doesn't matter. You'll be able to identify me very well soon enough. And no need to tell me your name, I know all about you and who you are... More than even _you_ know who you are, I can assure you." Whether or not he was silent out of choice, or by the fear that engulfed his heart, Zyro wasn't entirely sure anymore.  
How was he to be sure of anything at this point?  
The pounding against his rib cage and his shallow breathing and hunched posture were enough to speak for him, even if he didn't want them too.  
What the hell was going on?...  
 _Why_ was this happening?  
"What's the matter?" Hideyoshi asked with what almost sounded like sincerity, though it was a twisted version of it, "There's no need to look so afraid... _This_ is the last place that you should need to feel fear in, and _we_ are the last people that you need to be afraid of, I can assure you that."

"W-who are you?..." Zyro finally asked, and didn't care about the stutter in his voice, "W-where am I?..."

"Ah, _there's_ your voice." Hideyoshi said with a satisfied gleam in his eye, "I was wondering if you were going to speak or not... Well, you already know who I am. The rest of these kind people work under me, here in the AETL and our main Headquarters. As for where you are, well... We'll have to show you around if you're to truly understand."

What?  
Show him around?...

Zyro knit his eyebrows together, suddenly confused. 'Showing him around' implied taking him around the building, which meant taking him out of _here_ , out of this room.  
Why would they just do that?... They wouldn't just _do_ that, right?...  
Slowly, Zyro scooted himself further back onto the bed and bit the inside of his lip. He didn't trust himself to say anything.  
Hideyoshi observed this, and chuckled softly, that unnerving smile of his never leaving his face. "As I said before, you have nothing to be afraid of, Zyro." The man insisted, and the boy shuddered at the use of his own name, "Now, if you please, me and my associates here," He gestured to the 4 finely clad people who stood around him, "will be escorting you throughout the facility and helping you get to know the place."  
Hideyoshi half-turned, but stopped short, and Zyro froze when he did. Teal blue eyes looked at him from a side-glance, that ever-present smirk sending chills through his body. "I _would_ make a threat to get you to comply," Hideyoshi admitted with a signature smug air, "but I think you are well aware of your situation."  
Shakily, Zyro nodded his head in agreement.  
"Good." The older man said, his smirk changing once more to a mock pleasant smile, "Come along then... There is _much_ you must introduce you too..." It took Zyro a moment for him to find the strength to slowly push himself up into a standing position, glancing nervously back and forth between both Hideyoshi and the four 'associates' that stood off to the side but were still a little close for comfort.  
Carefully, he leaned over and placed the paper cup on the table beside the bed, and then slowly walked towards the man who stood to wait. Zyro said nothing, his body rigid and stiff as he walked, mostly due to the chill that had settled in his spine and the way his chest and stomach ached with nausea that he was so suddenly reminded of.  
Hideyoshi just smiled at him and then turned to lead the way out of his white prison (something of which he still couldn't believe they were actually allowing, since kidnappers didn't just _do_ that right away for as well as he knew), the 4 suit-clad strangers following suit. All of them walked rather closely together, but Zyro did what he could to assure that it was well in between the Director who walked in front of him and the four men and woman who walked behind, curved and walking rigidly like a wall that stood between him and the rest of the world.  
Zyro bit his lip nervously and tried to focus on anything but the weighing sensation that bore down on him. By this point, it was a subconscious thing, even if he didn't notice the closed spaces and the low ceilings and the- No.  
No, don't you think about that...

Trying to breathe as steadily as he possibly could in his situation, Zyro took to glancing side to side at his surroundings. Hideyoshi had said that they wanted to get him to know the place. Maybe he'd do just that, but not for their reasons. Whatever their reasons were...  
The walls were just as white as that of his metal-plated cell, and the LED lights overhead reflected off of their surfaces and lit up the whole corridor with the greatest of ease. Finally able to see properly and not clouded by his own panic and fear (although it wasn't like he _wasn't_ still afraid), he finally noticed all of the white metal doors embedded into the walls. Besides all of them were card readers, outlined in various colors that ranged from yellow to green to red to blue to black... So was that how they were all opened?  
Bolted to each of the doors were glass panels, and within them were what appeared pieces of paper, or even stickers, for all he knew.  
Thankfully, they were walking leisurely enough for Zyro to make out what they said... And, dear lord, how he wished he hadn't decided to do that.

 **Subject 091  
Class: Safe  
Sentient and Non-Violent**

 **Subject 092  
Class: Safe  
Sentient and Non-Violent**

 **Subject 093  
Class: Safe  
Sentient and Hostile**

Swallowing the bile that had risen in his throat, Zyro forced himself to tear his eyes away from the labels. If he hadn't already been scared before, he was most definitely scared now...  
It wasn't too much longer before the doors of their 'Subjects' had disappeared, and replaced with more hallways and other rooms. Not necessarily _normal_ rooms that you'd just find anywhere in some building or another, but definitely more normal than what he had seen before.  
A lot of these doors actually had windows, but they were small ones and were typically more translucent rather than transparent. Now that they seemed to be in the somewhat 'normal' part of the place, it was now evident that it wasn't as empty as it had previously seemed to be.  
Strangers all walked to and fro, some conversing with each other in the rooms they passed by, though their voices were all too muffled to hear properly. Any of the people they passed were often dressed similarly to the Director in front of him and the 'bodyguards' behind him.  
Aside from them, there were people dressed in lab coats and scrubs who passed by, and the boy could have sworn he had seen one of them walking by in a HAZMAT suit. It wasn't very long before there was just a steady though quiet buzz of various chatter throughout the corridors, and it was almost rather... normal.  
Strange, for a place that seemed to be pretty comfortable with kidnappings.  
But even with that, nothing settled the raven's trembling nerves. Especially not the keen and curious looks that people kept giving him whenever they passed by. Typically the men and women in the white coats and scrubs. Whatever that was about, it made him sick to his stomach...  
Just when he felt like the halls might go on forever, the 6 of them finally came to a stop at an elevator. One of a few, Zyro noted, upon spotting the two other elevators on either side of the one they were going through, spaced at least 10 meters apart from each other. The elevator doors opened with a slight _'ding'_ that was almost comical, and Zyro followed Director Hideyoshi into it.  
The elevator was large, larger than elevators usually were, so the 6 of them had nothing to worry about when it came to space.  
However, Zyro still found himself staring down at the floor, his arms wrapped around himself as he felt and breathed the crowded air around him.  
Look at the bright side, he told himself. At least it isn't smaller.  
Despite this thought, he felt trapped. More so than he already was. He felt the jolt of the elevator as it started to move, and instinctively held himself a little closer to... well, himself.

"You're awfully quiet," Hideyoshi commented.  
Zyro turned his head away slightly and said nothing.  
"Naturally, I suppose." Hideyoshi said with a faint smile, "After all, you have yet to adapt. I understand that this is _quite_ sudden for you, Zyro, but trust me when I say that you'll feel at home in no time."  
 _Trust you?_  
Zyro almost couldn't believe he'd heard those words come from the man's mouth.  
How could you just _kidnap_ someone and then expect them to _trust you_? But Zyro bit his tongue and stayed silent.  
Finally, the _'ding!'_ of the elevator sounded again, and the sound of the doors sliding open as a most welcome thing to Zyro. But as soon as he looked up and saw what - _who_ \- had been waiting behind those doors, he froze, and suddenly wanted nothing more than to push himself to the back of the elevator and huddle there until his last days.  
"Ah, Naomi." Hideyoshi greeted in a welcoming tone, "There you are. Right on time. So glad you could meet us."  
Naomi, cold eyes, hard features, tied back hair and all, nodded her head stoically. "But of course." She said, her hard voice a jagged puncture wound in Zyro's memory, "I wouldn't dare miss this for the world." Her dull eyes briefly gave Zyro a once over, and the raven felt like he was going to be sick... Once more, they began walking, the woman - Naomi - falling into step with Hideyoshi in front of Zyro.  
Unwittingly, Zyro fell back slightly, and at once point had to even be pushed along by the four bodyguards that continued to follow along behind him. Eventually, he regained at least some of his composure and kept himself well in the middle of their group.  
His gaze constantly flickered to Naomi, to the broad slimness of her shoulders and the tight, orderly hairline at the base of her neck.  
She had been there. Back in Omitama...

 _She was there and she had watched as-_

Carefully, Zyro swallowed the lump in his throat, and simply followed, taking care to notice his surroundings once more. Anything to distract him from those awful memories waiting to pounce on him.  
The corridors were similar to that of the floor they had originally been on, except that there were far more people here than there had been. The walls were also no longer an overwhelmingly white, but a light, earthy green that was far more pleasing to the eyes than what he had previously been surrounded by. However, although the surroundings were more pleasing, and stares and curious looks that he kept getting were most certainly not.  
Why did everybody keep _looking_ at him like that?  
Several turns were made down a few hallways, and before long they came to a dead end one with nothing but a 'pull open' door on the far wall. One of the well-dressed men that were accompanying them hurried over and pulled it open for the rest of them, allowing them all entry onto an indoor balcony ('balcony' being a nice word for it) that overlooked a large area that was practically flooded with people. Most of them were dressed in lab coats, Zyro noted, which was _probably_ because the area seemed to be a giant research/science lab. And he was spotting some less than comforting things down there, to say the least.  
They walked slowly across the metal balcony that was hugged tightly to the wall, making their way to a door in the center.  
Strange... They had been walking rather briskly before, so...  
It was only when the dozens upon dozens of pairs of eyes started to look up and stare at them - at _him_ \- did he think he realized the purpose of this.  
Why did they all keep _staring_? What was so _fascinating_ about him that they had to be so compelled to stare?...  
He swallowed nervously as they went through the door to their right, which opened up to a short flight of stairs that lead downward and to another door, leading out into the lab area. When that door opened and they all walked through it, the sound of quiet chatter and inquiries and questions between one another filled the area, becoming the only thing that there was to be heard in the large room. And the stares, dozens upon dozens of stares, were far more menacing now that he was so close to them.  
Why were they down here? Why bother if it was just for the stares?...  
Seemingly unfazed, both Hideyoshi and Naomi made their way through the crowd of Scientists and Researchers at an unnatural, leisure pace. Zyro followed behind them, but his posture was far less relaxed than theirs were; stiff and rigid, hugging himself and pulling at the thin fabric of his sleeve in his suffocating discomfort.

 _Don't you think about that, just breathe, just breathe, and count..._  
One...  
Two...

Unexpectedly, they stopped walking, and Zyro looked up in alarm at their sudden cease in pace to see Hideyoshi speaking with one of the researchers in hushed tones. There were few words that Zyro was able to make out from between the two of them, for his fear and nearly crippling anxiety was starting to get a bit _too much_ all at once.  
However, they didn't seem to be keen to drown out the mutterings from all around him, though.

"-can't believe it, is that really _him_?"

"No other explanation."

"He came in last night, I heard."

"How did they actually _find_ him? It's been years..."

"Not sure."

"Upstairs, for now."

"They look _identical_."

"So much alike."

"No, he has darker skin than them."

"Does it matter?"

Cold shivers ran through him and raised his skin uncomfortably, feeling a thousand needles dig into his back with the stares that bore into him from every angle. He did his best to breathe in steadily and exhale all the same. It didn't really work, though...  
Why, oh _why_ was this happening?...  
"Good." He heard Hideyoshi say in a pleasing manner and looked up with nearly pleading eyes ( _pleading? no, you're better than that, don't let them see_ ) towards the man. The two of them seemed to be coming to the conclusion of their previously hushed conversation.  
"Be sure to alert me when you finally get the results. I'd like to see them for myself." Hideyoshi continued, and the other man - slightly shorter, middle-aged, slightly overweight, and a buzz hair-cut - nodded.  
"Of course, Director." He said and then stepped back a few feet to allow them better passage through the lab area.  
Only then did all seven of them start moving along again, but Zyro didn't fail to notice the look that the man was giving him - the same look everyone else was.  
What 'results'?  
What about him?  
What were they all _talking_ about? This lack of information was almost more than he could bare...  
Silently, Zyro bit his lip nervously, looking over his shoulder back at the many men and woman that filled the room as they came farther to the opposite wall. Many were still staring after them, but others had gotten back to their strange work. That, at least, he was grateful for.  
"As you can probably guess, we've been waiting for this for a very long time," Hideyoshi said suddenly, and Zyro quickly looked back towards the Director and his apparent assistant.  
"For what?..." He asked quietly.  
With that ever pleased smile on his face, Hideyoshi glanced back over his shoulder at the raven, the bright LED lights of the building reflecting off of the lenses of his glasses.  
"For you, of course." He said, as though it were just _that_ simple.  
Zyro felt his breath hitch and his heart skip a beat at those words, his pupils shrinking on reflex for the instinctive fear and confusion and shock that ran through him.  
"Me?..." He repeated softly, confused.

What did that mean?  
'They've been waiting for him'?  
Why _him_?  
What was so important about _him_ to these people?  
"Yes, you." Naomi answered this time, and Zyro only just stopped himself from flinching at the sound of her voice, "We've been searching for you for a very long time, _Zyro Kurogane_. For your whole life, in fact... And for the longest time, you managed to elude us, and so did those who were hiding you. We could've sworn that we would _never_ find you again, and yet here you are, after all of these years. And to think, you were nearly right on our doorstep for awhile..."

"What we're saying," Hideyoshi began in a slightly warmer tone than hers, "is that having you here with us is the greatest honor that we ever could've had... After all, losing you was quite the disappointment."  
As he followed them through the, once more, white, door-line corridors, Zyro could do nothing but look at both of their backs in disbelief and silent, but desperate, confusion. Hideyoshi, once more, looked back over his shoulder at the boy as they all rounded another corner.  
"You see, Zyro," The man explained, "we, here at the AETL, make it our duty to take peculiar things, some inanimate objects and living beings alike, under our wing and study them so that we can understand them better. And we keep them here. _You_ just happen to be one of those 'peculiar beings'."

"B-but, what-"

"I understand your confusion to that, so I'll explain. You see, we always knew you were special. The moment we saw you as a little newborn, we knew you weren't of the normal sort. So we decided to keep you here. However, you were taken from us the moment we turned our backs, by a cursed woman who we believed we could trust indiscretion. Unfortunately, we couldn't. And you vanished off the map for _years_. But, as luck would have it, we happen to find you all these years later. And so now, we finally decided to take you back."  
Throughout at least half that explanation, Zyro had been shaking his head, but Hideyoshi had looked away by then. Even now, he continued almost subconsciously, swallowing the sour bile in his throat that kept rising up in his fear. All that he was able to do was tell himself that all of this was a lie, that they _couldn't_ be true.  
Because it _couldn't_!  
He knew who he was, where he came from!  
He was born to Ikiyo and Saburo Kurogane (although he supposed it was _technically_ Minoru, but that was beside the point at the moment) on May 19th of 2001, in the small, half-rural town of Khudene.  
He had grown up there, been cared for, hung out with friends and even babysat some of the younger kids when he was old enough to do so. He was in 11th grade, a B- to A student on average (thankfully), and even now hoping to do something in Mechanics when it came to a career path.  
 _That_ was his life, and _that_ was fact...  
So why did these people seem so convinced about what they were talking about with where he came from?...  
"It may be a lot to take in all at once, I understand." Hideyoshi said, half-consolingly, "But you'll get used to the idea in time."

"Where are you taking me?..." Zyro asked, suddenly concerned at the thought that they 'worked to understand' what they classified as 'peculiar creatures'. All things considered, that could mean anything.  
"To meet someone." Hideyoshi answered simply, "You see, before you were taken from us, we got a few minor DNA samples. Blood, hair, the basic things... And, after your disappearance, those few samples we had gathered were all we had left of you to study. So, naturally, we conducted several different experiments with them. After some... _Interesting_ results with one of our tests, we decided to use them for a certain Project we had been trying to conduct for years, at the time. And, as it so happens, we were successful."

"I-in what?..."

"Ah, here we are," Hideyoshi said instead of answering, and it took Zyro a moment to notice that they had stopped in front of a pair of double doors, much similar to the ones that had been passing for the last while. Both doors had circular windows at the top, but the glass was slightly translucent, so it wasn't easy to see right through. However, the raven got the idea of where they were when he caught sight of a clear, glass panel screwed into the left-hand door, the sticker beneath it giving all that he needed to know.

 **Subject 508-1  
Kuro  
Class: Safe  
Sentient and Non-Violent  
Psychic /  
Technology Affecting**

Naomi was the one who did the honors of sliding her key card through the card reader beside the doors, which was encircled with black. A light on the pad turned green, and, with a faint 'clicking' sound, the doors opened. Slowly, Hideyoshi and Naomi walked forwards into the room, Zyro and the 4 behind him following in tow.  
Although the rest of the facility wasn't exactly warm, Zyro found it safe to say that this room was stifling, making it almost difficult to breathe without sucking in a blast of warm air.  
He also noticed, upon looking back and forth, that this place actually had furnishings. Fairly nice ones, at that, and nothing like the boring and uncomfortable things he had seen earlier.  
Whoever was in here, the people had to like him.

"Kuro, I'm glad to see you're awake." Hideyoshi said to someone that stood in front of him, and of who Zyro couldn't currently see, "We've brought you a visitor, and I'm sure you'll be pleased to meet him at last."  
Turning slightly, the Director lowered his gaze to Zyro once more, and the raven shivered coldly at the look in those teal-green eyes.  
"Zyro." He addressed, and slowly stepped aside, "Allow us to introduce you to your younger brother."  
Confused, Zyro followed to where the Director was gesturing to and felt everything in his body choke, then freeze. There, just barely ten feet away, sat a boy, roughly, if not exactly, his age. His familiar posture was exhausted looking, his slim shoulders slumped and his breaths slow by heavy. Long hair of monochromatic black and white poured over the sides of the armchair and lay pooled on the floor.  
He was looking at him, and, for some reason, Zyro had a hard time processing that. His skin was unhealthily pale, and his eyes were a far lighter blue than his, but Zyro knew that face anywhere. After all, it was the same face he saw looking back at him whenever he stared into the mirror.

"This," Hideyoshi said, his voice sharp to the touch, "is Kuro. Our pride and joy, here at the AETL." Eyeing Zyro briefly, Hideyoshi moved forward towards Kuro, and stood beside the chair of which he was perched in. "He's been with us all his life. We've raised him, cared for him, and, in turn, he's provided us with some very helpful information for our research." Softly, though in less than a familial way than he seemed to attempt, the man placed one of his larger hands onto the boy's shoulder, his fingers spread so that his hand was half on his back as well.  
The boy - Kuro, so they called him - made no visible reaction to this other than the movement of his gaze towards the ground.  
"He was one of the biggest breakthroughs in our science and understanding of people such as him than we had ever thought possible. And we have _you_ to thank for that, Zyro."  
Confused (and, quite frankly, still terrified), Zyro looked towards the man but said not a word. However, his silence said everything that he couldn't as he looked back at the boy in the chair.  
"I was telling you about that project of ours." Hideyoshi stated, keeping his gaze fixed on the raven, "The one that we were unable to successfully complete until we had pieces of your DNA. Project Eden, we called it." As he spoke, the man removed his hand from Kuro's shoulder and circled the chair slowly. "For years, we'd been attempting to create living and breathing lifeforms out of borrowed DNA. 'Cloning', if you will. We'd spent decades studying the science of it, pulling out all the stops to understand how the body works, how _cells_ and DNA work. We'd done studies on small lifeforms, such as bacteria and the like, and slowly worked ourselves up to plants, animals, and, finally, the human body. Only then did we start with our actual experiments. We would take several DNA samples from some of our other Test Subjects, and work on duplicating it. And, after that, building it into a living organism. We conducted thousands upon thousands of them over the years, and _all_ of them failed. Either, nothing worked and the experiment fell apart, or the small, pathetic creations we _did_ make could hardly be called 'organisms' at all... Yet, we still kept trying. Over and over again, until Project Eden was a lost cause and one of our greatest disappointments." Hideyoshi's voice had gone bitter, and his face had twisted ever so slightly into something far more sour than sweet. However, the expression softened once he stopped on the other side of Kuro's chair, and his cool, calculating gaze returned to Zyro.  
"Until we found _you_... We knew you were anything but 'normal' from the moment we saw you; _special_ , even..."  
Slowly, Hideyoshi started walking towards the raven again, and Zyro swallowed thickly. He didn't notice, nor did anybody else notice, Kuro's eyes watching the man as he did so. "And how _right_ we were..." Hideyoshi continued, "Until you and your peculiar DNA came along, Project Eden had all but been abandoned... But once we did some testing with those DNA samples of yours, we finally decided to start up the Project once again for one last final try at what we had always dreamed of creating. And lo and behold... We _did_."  
The Director stopped walking once he was halfway to the raven, and Zyro watched him with wide, frightened eyes. Hideyoshi smirked coyly at this and continued with his explanation.  
"With a normal human body, cells replace dead cells when they're no longer fit to keep the body running. Cells regenerate all the time, in a non-stop cycle that goes unhindered for as long as the body remains healthy and alive. However, while they _do_ regenerate, they do not simply duplicate. Cells replace themselves, but they are, for the most part, only created at the rate that other cells die. Therefore, that meant we had to _actively_ help the cells along. Science can do well for replacing cells, but that does not mean it's easy for creating them, which was always our greatest flaw in our experiments. But with _you_ , however... We hardly needed to do anything but work to construct it all properly. Your DNA did the rest..." Once more, Hideyoshi made his way back over to the boy in the chair and gestured with his hand to him. "And from Project Eden, Kuro became the result. One that we have you to thank for..."

 _Thank_?...

Zyro said nothing, but couldn't help but internally reel in disgust at the thought of them _thanking_ him for something like that... What had he even _given_ them?  
This kid who looked exactly him because of their apparent shared DNA? And for what purpose? These _experiments_ they kept going on about?...  
"But, that aside," Hideyoshi continued on, and Zyro hesitantly looked up at the man again, "we didn't _just_ come here to introduce you to dear Kuro. We actually have a favor we need to ask of you, one of that is of _vital_ importance to us."  
Warily, Zyro's glance wavered between Hideyoshi, Kuro, and Naomi, who stood slightly off to the side but was no less an intimidating presence.  
"What favor?..." The boy asked reluctantly.  
He didn't like the sounds of any of this... Not one bit. Not that had liked the sounds of _any_ of this to start with, but that was beside the point.

"I'm glad you asked," Hideyoshi said, looking almost genuinely relieved.  
 _Bullshit_ , Zyro thought bitterly.  
"Kuro's been with us for a very long time," Hideyoshi went on to explain, and proceeded to, once again, place a hand on the other boy's arm, "but we're afraid that that time is now running short... Dreadfully short."  
Zyro furrowed his eyebrows and glanced at his doppelganger briefly.  
"Y-you mean...?"

"He's dying, yes." Hideyoshi said in confirmation, though his tone was more factual than anything, "The experiments and tests have taken a toll on his body, and his strength is slowly diminishing. He can't even speak anymore..." Zyro glanced at Kuro again and didn't fail to notice the solemn look on the other boy's face, his light blue eyes fixed towards the ground.  
"We need you to save his life," Hideyoshi said after his brief pause, and Zyro's gaze was suddenly ripped away from Kuro and back to the Director.  
"W-what?..." The raven questioned, confused and shocked at the sudden statement.  
"Whether you know it or not, you, Zyro, have to the power to give life." Hideyoshi stated without directly answering, "Your DNA proved that to us very well, and, because of your ability to give life, Kuro was created. And, with your power, you have the ability to save your younger brother's life. Unless... You choose _not to_ , of course."

What?  
Were they... giving him a _choice_?  
Whether or not to save this kid's life?

"If you refuse, we won't hold it against you." Hideyoshi said though it was less than reassuring, "However, I really can't see that there is a reason _not_ too... After all, he _is_ your flesh and blood, and you seem like someone who values life very highly. Do you wish to prove me wrong?"  
Zyro just stared at him in disbelief, his gaze repeatedly flicking back and forth between the Director and the boy in the chair.  
Were they _actually_ asking him to do this? _Actually_?  
What was he supposed to say to that?!  
Finally, between looking back and forth, his gaze settled on Kuro, who was looking right back at him. His eyes were half-lidded, and his expression was blank, but something about him was trying to say something. Something that would, more often than not, need words; which the boy seemed to be incapable of.  
Zyro shivered as he looked into those eyes that were so similar to his, and tried with all his might to see what was in them. But, somehow, he just couldn't... They were giving him the option to save this kid's _life_. Stop from him from _dying_ at such a young age, however old he was... And even though he wasn't entirely too sure how exactly his powers worked yet, he couldn't just say _no_ to that!  
But, still... Something was stopping him from immediately agreeing.  
Something about this kid was trying to turn him against his moral compass, but what exactly that was was something he wasn't sure of.  
"Well?" Hideyoshi asked, the patience in his voice unbelievable.  
"I..." Zyro tried, but faltered, "I..."  
Silently, he adverted the boy's eyes and aspired to look at anything but the people that surrounded him.  
How could he just decide something like this?  
Smiling, Hideyoshi simply nodded his head.

"Very well, then." He said, "We can leave you two alone for awhile. You can get to know each other that way." Zyro watched as the man walked past him and headed towards the door with the rest of his cronies.  
"And, when we return..." The Director said as he paused at the side of the door, his hand reached out to address the card reader off to the side, "I hope that you have made a decision."  
With those final words, Hideyoshi seemed to slide his key-card through the reader on the wall. Zyro watched as the metal doors slid closed behind them, and the resounding slam of mechanical metal on mechanical metal echoed in his ears.


	8. Chapter 7 - Home

Chapter 7 - Home

* * *

The moment those doors closed, Zyro knew that he was alone.  
In this place, it should've been comforting. But, in this situation, it really wasn't. Now that Hideyoshi and the rest of his followers had left, there was only the two of them; himself and his clone.  
Slowly, Zyro pulled his gaze away from the closed metal doors and turned back around to look at his doppelganger, hesitant from the fear and nerves that continued to wrack him even after Hideyoshi's departure. And the boy was just _there_ ; looking at him through half-lidded eyes that were far too tired for someone of his apparent young age. As expected, the boy said nothing.  
Swallowing thickly, Zyro turned fully towards him and stood there with not a clue of what he was supposed to do.  
What did they _expect_ him to do? Talk to him?  
The kid couldn't talk, so that was out of the question. Just stand there and decide? That would be more than a little awkward, considering that he seemed to still be as much a person as he himself was. And he knew for sure that he certainly didn't like awkward situations...  
They had said they wanted them to get to know each other.  
How? What was he supposed to do? Nothing was helping him with that question at the moment, especially not the way the kid was just staring at him.

"Uh..." The raven started, searching for something, _anything_ , to say. "Hi?..."  
Kuro simply blinked nonchalantly at that, his half-lidded eyes never leaving him. His heavy but quiet breathing was the only sound in the room other than Zyro's own voice, which echoed very briefly before fading.  
"Y-you're... Kuro... Right?" The raven asked though he knew the answer to that question already. Still, it was something that the kid could at least respond to with a nod. But Kuro didn't do that. Instead, his gaze pulled away from the Ifraid Blader, and instead of wandering off to the side.  
"Okay..." Zyro said quietly, licking his lips briefly, "That's okay..."  
Again, Kuro's gaze shifted, this time to the opposite side of where he had been looking. Zyro watched him, confused at his actions.  
"Are... Are you okay?" He asked, even though he knew that that question, in general, was pointless. After all, the boy was dying, if Hideyoshi was to be believed...  
Once more, Kuro made no move to answer but instead turned his gaze towards the ceiling. It was a few moments before the lights suddenly dimmed, but only by a few notches so that everything around the room was still visible. Zyro looked up towards the ceiling in confusion and instinctively took a step back out of his own wariness.  
Trying to breathe as steadily as he could, Zyro turned his gaze back towards Kuro, who was looking back at him once more that with that ever passive expression of his.  
"Um..." Zyro said nervously and slowly nodded his head once, "Okay... That's cool..."  
'Technology Affecting', the sticker on the door had said... Was this was that meant?  
Unexpectedly, Kuro's face was suddenly lit up with a bright blue light, projected from a holographic screen that opened up in mid-air in front of the boy. Zyro watched this skeptically, and several orange lines and dots form on the translucent screen. One went straight across the screen and lay unmoving.

"We can _speak_ , now..." Came a voice from the projection, causing the orange line to move with the volume of which the voice was speaking at. Strangely enough, the voice was that of a woman's, though with several different pitches and tones than one normally spoke with.  
"Huh?..." Zyro questioned, staring at Kuro, skeptical.  
The boy continued to look back at him intently.  
"Well?" The projection asked, though this time it spoke in a man's voice. Once more, Zyro looked back and forth between Kuro and the projection, and was, soon enough, able to put two and two together.  
"Is that..." He started, gesturing towards the hologram, "... you?"  
This time, the boy actually did nod.  
"I can't speak **ANY** other _way_." The projection spoke, it's warped way of speech ever present, "That's _what happens_..."  
Slowly, Zyro nodded and licked his lips out of a nervous habit.  
"Okay..." He said in agreement, "So... What are we talking about?..."  
"You." Kuro answered, " _And_ _ **why**_ you're here."...

* * *

"Sichiro?" Madoka questioned incredulously, looking at Tsubasa with raised eyebrows as they both stood on the far side of the room.  
"Yeah." The Director said, "Not someone I would've immediately thought about, either..."  
"B-but I don't get it..." The brunette stammered, "What does-" Briefly, she glanced over to the rest of the younger bladers who were now all gathered in Tsubasa's office.  
Madoka had called Tsubasa beforehand, asking his permission if it would be fine to bring them over, especially considering how things had gone earlier that morning. However, Tsubasa had insisted that it was fine and that they should all be there, so she brought them along. Now they were all here (Ren having returned from wherever it was she had run off too), and waiting for... Well, whatever they were supposed to be waiting for.  
When she looked over, Madoka could see the several pairs of eyes that wandered over to the two of them as they probably had several times, and sighed through her nose. All of them were distressed, to say the least.  
Once more, Madoka turned back to Tsubasa, and leaned in slightly, resuming her former question.  
"What does Sichiro have to do with _anything_ that's going on?..."  
"I don't know..." Tsubasa answered in as equally a hushed tone, "But Hideyoshi mentioned him when he was listing off people to blame... It was brief, so it's not like any specific attention was drawn to it... And Sichiro left roughly an hour ago, apparently saying that he had 'family emergency, and I don't think that's just a coincidence."  
" _Family_ emergency?" The brunette repeated skeptically, "But I thought that he didn't _have_ any family..."  
"He doesn't," Tsubasa confirmed. "So, yeah, I think it's a little weird that a guy who doesn't seem to have any living relatives would leave because of a 'family emergency'."  
Madoka shifted, wrapping her arms around herself a little more securely.  
"Do you think he heard what was going on?" The brunette asked.  
"I'm sure he did." Tsubasa asked, "When I asked Tamako to page him to my office, she said that he'd left a half hour before. Which was roughly around when Hideyoshi contacted us to tell us about Zyro."  
"So he ran..." Madoka stated, nodding slowly as she began to understand the situation.  
"No one has been to his apartment yet, but, from the looks of it, yeah..." Tsubasa said, briefly looking over to the glass wall that stood to his right and her left. Madoka followed his gaze, her troubled eyes settling on the grey world beyond the windows. "And you don't run unless you have something to hide or something to run from." Tsubasa stated, "And I'll bet anything that he knows a lot more about what's going on then we think he does."  
His amber eyes wandered back to her and watched her delicate expression with his own troubled gaze. After a moment, Madoka looked back at him.  
"So, how do you propose we get a hold of him?" She asked, hoping beyond hope that Tsubasa had an answer to that. Unfortunately, he didn't.  
"I have no idea." He answered, and shook his head...

* * *

"I know what they said to YOU..." Kuro and his projection stated, "They didn't _lie_ ; not entirely. They've **BEEN SEARCHING FOR YOU** for years, long before _I_ was _aRoUND_."  
Zyro, still eyeing Kuro warily, swallowed again, the thick bile in his throat always resurfacing no matter how hard he tried. "O-okay..." The raven said with a small nod, "But... I still don't get it. Why am I here? W-why am I _so_ important to them?..."  
" _Because you're_ why they got **ME** in the first place," Kuro answered.  
Zyro furrowed his eyebrows in confusion, and the boy continued.  
"You were _special_. That's what **they always** said about _YOU_. And from your FILE I can **see why**... They _found you_ and wanted **you for themselves**. But your PARenTS stood _in the way_."  
"W-what?..." Zyro stammered, trying to comprehend what exactly he was hearing. "B-but I've lived with my parents my whole life, what sense does that make?"  
"The KU-rogAne's?" Kuro questioned, the name twisted in his makeshift speech, "You shouldn't _NEED ME_ to explain that to _you_... They are _not your_ parents, ZYro, not **by birth**."  
"But, I-"  
"No _questions_ ," Kuro ordered harshly through his projection, and Zyro immediately shut his mouth. The words put through the hologram were of varying pitches, tones, and volumes, but the other boy's face spoke clearly as to what they were meant to sound like. His light blue eyes were slightly more narrowed, his eyebrows drawn together, and there was a barely noticeable frown on his lips. "We don't have _long_." He said, " **Now** listen."  
Feeling his shoulders quiver slightly, Zyro obeyed and said nothing.  
"Your _birth parents_ were seen as a **liability to** them, so they got them **_out of the picture_** so they could HAvE you for themselves. These are them."  
Zyro jumped slightly when two small, holographic screens opened up right in front of him. He took a step back in his surprise, but still looked at the screens obligingly. They were medical files, from what he could tell. On them were two different pictures, one of a man and the other of a woman. Both of them looked a little less than flattering, and it was clear - even to him - that the pictures were anything but new, since the bottom of both pages indicated that they were most recently updated back in the summer of 2002.  
Anya Romanov, and Grigory Yakovich. Russian names...  
"Both of them died in a **car crash** a YEAR AFTER you were born..." Kuro explained, his expression as calm as ever, "They drove off of a cliff, somehow, and they **died in the** _explosion_. Their _bodies were_ barely recogniZABLE. I wonder how that happened."  
Zyro could tell that that last statement wasn't meant for a genuine curiosity. The two screens in front of him then faded out and disappeared, leaving just the two of them and the other boy's projection.  
"That was _long after_ they lost every SIGN OF you. Because _THEY WERE_ starting to talk... And that's not the worst they've done to people who try TO talk, and not **just when** it involved you. They'd DO _ANYTHING_ to keep you this time... Which is why they'll lie, and THEY'LL cheat, and they'll _put thoughts into_ _your_ head... Which is WHY I'M telling you now, **do not believe** a _WORD_ they say."  
"They just _kidnapped_ me." Zyro pointed out, loosely gesturing to the room around him as a vague reference, "What makes you think I would believe _anything_ they say?"  
There was a brief silence, and Kuro stared at him with half-lidded blue eyes. They narrowed, and the boy in the chair looked at him pointedly. Although he was frail, seemingly confined to a chair unable to speak on his own, there was no doubt that the boy was intimidating.  
"Because you already did," Kuro said.  
Zyro opened his mouth to protest but shut it almost as soon as he had opened it. As much as he hated it, he knew Kuro was right.  
He had trusted those two blindly, ignorantly believing that not a bad thing in the world could happen. What was that to say about him?...

* * *

"One of the _workers_ here?" Ren asked for clarification, raising a blonde eyebrow at both Tsubasa and Madoka. The two of them had come to the group of them after several more minutes of hushed conversation, followed by a phone call he made to one of his personnel and had seemingly decided to lay out the situation as it was. They had, uncomfortably, gotten through the confirmation that Zyro had, indeed, been kidnapped by the Tokyo WBBA, and that there was currently little any of them could do about it.  
Almost instinctively, the children - though hardly children anymore, by this point - had turned to the Director, and asked him if he could find some way around it. Tsubasa hadn't answered right away, but he had said that he try and work on it.  
All of Madoka, Minoru, and Maru knew that this was merely a try at hopeless reassurance, and they had a feeling that everybody else knew that as well. Tsubasa's hands were tied with the threat that Hideyoshi had made to him. And if there was nothing he could do, there was currently nothing that _they_ could do. They had then finally gotten to the previous topic of Tsubasa and Madoka's hushed conversation; Sichiro, and whatever his involvement in this was. Needless to say, most of them were looking fairly baffled at the idea that one of the workers at Headquarters - one that was seemingly quite trusted, no less - could have anything to do with this bigger picture that they realized existed.  
Hence, Ren's question. To it, Tsubasa could only nod.  
"Yes, it seems so..." He said with a small sigh, "Hideyoshi briefly mentioned Sichiro Yamauchi during our... conversation... earlier. Which leads us to believe that he may have some answers to what's going on with this whole thing."  
"So, why don't we find him?" Shinobu suggested, clearly seeing it as the most obvious objective, "And ask why the Tokyo WBBA would want Zyro in the first place?"  
"We're trying." Tsubasa said, "I just sent some people out to check his apartment for him and see if he's there. He hasn't been answering calls from anyone in the past hour and a half, at least, so it's about safe to say that he overheard Hideyoshi's threat, and ran."  
"Coincidence, much..." Kite muttered sarcastically, and Tsubasa's lips twitched slightly in a smile.  
"So, we just... sit here and wait?" Eight asked for clarification, though he seemed quite displeased with the idea. Which was something shared with practically everyone else in the room.  
"That's about all we can do." Madoka said with a shrug of her lithe shoulders, "We have no idea what their whole plan is, or how far they'll go to keep us quiet about it. I mean..." She trailed off on that last unfinished sentence and glanced briefly over at Tsubasa. The silverette must have known because he angled his head slightly away from her. "...They've already made verbal threats. We just don't know what other threats they could make..." She finished somewhat lamely, but no one said anything about it.  
"Well, could they be watching us?" Ren asked, "Like... _Now_? I mean, we know it isn't _impossible_ , so..."  
"We have no way of knowing." Tsubasa said, swallowing thickly, "But they seemed able to hack into all the lines running into my office easily enough, so the chances of them being able to watch us is... Uncomfortably high."

"Kira hacked into your office once, didn't he?" Maru pointed out, "Maybe he could find out?"  
"That would almost be pointless." Madoka said, shrugging her shoulders again, "If we could get him to try, they might find out, and things could get worse than they already are... I wouldn't try it, myself."  
Tsubasa nodded in agreement with her. "Either way," The Director started, "the Tokyo WBBA's technology and security outweigh ours by at least 10 years. We aren't acting against them without them coming to know about it."  
"So, that's it." Ren stated flatly, "We just... Sit here. And wait to _maybe_ find this guy you're talking about."  
Tsubasa sighed with his nose but said nothing in response to that. Madoka looked over at him again, her turquoise eyes helpless and worried. It was a terrible feeling, and it was one that they all felt. They were sitting there, with the knowledge that Zyro had been kidnapped by one of the most powerful organizations in the world that wasn't the UN, and they could do nothing about it.  
Surely, the world couldn't be _that_ cruel?  
But it was, and they had already known that...

* * *

"So..." Zyro started, trying, at the same time, to get his bearings together, "What's the point of this?... Us talking about this? Is this like 'welcoming party' or something? 'Cause it's not very _welcoming_..."  
"No, _you_ IDIOT." Kuro's projection said rather harshly, though the boy himself looked somewhat annoyed. Zyro swallowed the lump in his throat, and unwittingly backed up a step.  
"I'm trying _to help_ you." Kuro stated firmly, "If I was _welcoming you to_ this place, I WOULDN'T HAVE bothered telling you ALL of this. I'm the best chance **you have** OF getting out of here. WE DON'T have much _longer_ , so **LISTEN**."  
Jumping slightly, Zyro nodded his head. He briefly glanced over his shoulder towards the doors that were shut behind him and wondered how nobody was hearing any of this...  
"You don't believe anything **they say**. You don't LET YOURSELF be broken _down_ by them. They'll DO anything to make sure _you don't_ try to run, to make sure you **trust** them above all else; _DON'T LISTEN_ to it. BUT DO what they say. Go through **with** the EXPeriments, if only to _please them_. The more com-plIANT you are, the more freedom you have, the easier this WILL be. **Under** stood?"  
Slowly, Zyro nodded, trying his best to process all that his doppelganger had told him to do. Confusing and overwhelming as all of this was, this seemed to be the best shot he had at getting out of this place. If there _was_ any way out of this place...  
"Good," Kuro said, and his annoyed expression regressed back into his calmer one. "Do _that much_ , and I can help you **get** out of here..."  
"But, how-"  
"You'll see." Kuro interrupted him, and narrowed his light blue eyes further, silently telling the raven to not breach the subject. Somehow, Zyro knew better than to question him.  
Even still, he still had his questions, and he glanced around briefly before asking them.  
"Okay, but... I still don't get it." Zyro claimed, " _Why_ would you want to help me?... We've never even _met_ before now, so... Why?"  
Surprisingly, Kuro's face - a face that perfectly matched his own - softened, and he didn't immediately answer the raven's question. When he did, he just barely looked away from the other boy.  
"Because..." His projection spoke for him, "I _was born_ here. I know what **it's like to** suffer AT THEIR hands so that can gather DA-ta and do their **DAMNED** expERIment _s_. I've seen what they've done to other people they've BROUGHT HERE. They're taken, come here, AND NEVER _leave_. Kept in **captivity** , like animals. They don't give a _damn_ about anyone's livelihood, have _no respect for_ them even after they're **dead and gone**."  
At that, the doppelganger actually looked slightly bitter, which almost made Zyro glad. As intimidating and coldly demanding as the kid was, he clearly had a conscious of what was right and what was wrong.  
It took a second, but Kuro's expression softened again, and he looked back up at his look-alike once more.

" **You're right**." He said in the repeatedly changing voice, "We've never _officially met_ BEFORE NOW. But _I've seen_ you, _I've_ watched... _I've_ seen who you are, and you ARE NOT a bad person. The last thing anyone **deserves** is a fate like this, and I've spent months _assuring that_ you would never have it. All I've ever **truly wanted in** in my life is to PROTECT you FROM THIS. That's the only _reason I_ agreed to help him..."  
Gently, Zyro furrowed his eyebrows at this and briefly looked away from his clone. He mulled over it for a few seconds but didn't say anything, deciding simply to take it as it was and not ask too many questions about it.  
The boy in the chair, intimidating, immovable, seemed to be as sincere as he could possibly be about any of it. Zyro had to admit, the boy wasn't all as bad as it could at first seem to be.  
" _They're coming_ back," Kuro said suddenly, and Zyro raised his head quickly to look at him. Kuro's eyes, which had seemed to be focused on something else that he couldn't see, went back to Zyro's own, a grave expression on his face.  
"Remember what I **told you** , and you'll _be fine_. DON'T TRY anything apart _from that_."  
"But, w-wait!" Zyro said hurriedly, "W-what about you, what should I do? They want me to... to save you, don't they? W-what do I say to that?!"

"DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT." Kuro's projection said furiously, and the boy's expression became that intimidating glare once more, causing Zyro to jump unexpectedly. "They want you to save me for their own SELFISH REASONS, not because they care." Kuro went on, "And they'll DO ANYTHING to try and convince you it's the right thing. No matter what they say, no matter what THEY DO, no matter what they show you, don't you dare agree to save my life."  
When Zyro only continued to stare at him in near disbelief, Kuro let out another exhausted breath and let his face soften ever so slightly.  
"I've been dying for a long time, ZYro... I've had my time to come to terms with that if it's the one thing THAT CAN get me out of this DAMNED place... If you save me, it won't make a difference. I'd STILL BE here, with no chance of getting out into a world I have NO PLACE in. The moment I truly knew who I WAS, I knew I was never meant to last long... Not in this place... So, ZyRO, when I ask you not to save me, I ask it AS AN act of mercy..."  
Silently, Zyro stared at the boy, mind riddled with the shock and disbelief that this kid - this kid who had been his apparent 'replacement' for all these years - was so ready to accept something like that like an adult who had already lived their entire life.  
That was... Wrong.  
Wrong for this boy, his own indirect creation, who was younger than he himself was at fifteen, was just willing to welcome death as though it were an old friend, and seemingly had not a problem with it. Zyro was so focused on these thoughts that he didn't notice the lights brightening back to their original setting when he had walked in. It was only when Kuro spoke for the last time, his expression exhausted and soberly forlorn, was the raven brought back into real time.  
"Please..." Kuro's projection pleaded with him, "Just let us die..." With that, Kuro's projection disappeared, and that was when he heard a 'click!' from behind him, and the metal doors to the room opening up again. Startled, Zyro turned towards it and saw Director Hideyoshi reenter the room once again, his faithful followers accompanying him.

"So sorry about the wait." The man said with a condescending smile, his hands together patiently behind his back, "I trust the two of you behaved yourselves?"  
Nervously, Zyro swallowed with a thickness that wouldn't stop reappearing and said nothing. The Director walked into the room until he was once more standing ever so slightly between Zyro and his doppelganger. He turned sideways so that he would be able to look at both of them, and Zyro shivered under the man's gaze.  
"Well now," The Director started pleasantly, "Since we've given you more than enough time to get to know our Kuro, what do you have to say, Zyro?"  
Zyro felt his heart pounding heavily in his chest, and he looked over towards his look-alike once more as Hideyoshi spoke, "Will you save him or not?"  
Kuro returned his gaze, that exhausted, half-awake expression back on his face as it had been when he had first walked in the room. However, the raven knew that it was all just a lie, in some way or another. He continued to look at Kuro, who was breathing heavily from unnatural exhaustion as he always seemed to be, biting the inside of his cheek as he quickly made the decision in his mind. Who was he to disrespect someone's dying wish?  
Without looking at Hideyoshi, Zyro shook his head slowly. He only just stopped himself from flinching when he felt the man's cold but calm glare center in on him.  
"I see..." The Director mused slowly, his formerly calm and pleasant voice low and icy, "...I truly thought better of you, Zyro... I thought you had more compassion than that, especially to your own flesh and blood..."

 _Don't believe anything they say.  
Don't fall for it._

As determined as he was not to, the raven couldn't help the stab of guilt that he felt in the corner of his heart.  
Still, he made no move, mentally or physically, to change his mind.  
"So sorry, Kuro." The man said to the boy in the chair, "It appears you'll have to wait..."  
Despite the Director's words, Kuro made no move to respond, and simply breathed out heavily in his weakened state. With that, Zyro was lead out by the Director and his loyal followers and glanced back briefly before Kuro's doors closed to catch a glimpse of his look-alike. He saw the boy staring after it, a tired and solemn look on his face that the raven now knew to be nothing but a mask for what lay beneath.  
"Well then." Hideyoshi said as he closed the doors to Kuro's room himself, and then turned back to fix his pointed gaze upon Zyro, "Since Kuro's fragile and delicate condition seems to emit no empathy from you..." The man slowly walked up, and Zyro felt himself involuntarily shrink under his intimidating shadow, "we may as well show you one of our other... more _sensitive_ cases." Zyro just barely stopped himself from flinching when he suddenly felt the man's hand on his back, though he could do nothing for the tensing of his shoulders.  
"Come along," Hideyoshi demanded softly, that decisively pleasant tone back in his voice. This time, Naomi lead the way, while the Director stayed in step with Zyro (something that he desperately wished the man hadn't decided to do) and the four finely-dressed men and women walked behind and beside them. They passed, once again, through multiple hallways lined with doors and other corridors that lead to different places and rooms, though Zyro paid no attention to them this time. The only thing he really paid attention to was that they went into another elevator, and descended another level (or two, or three, or...) before coming out onto a slightly quieter floor.

It was unsettling, the unnatural quiet that surrounded them as they walked, their footsteps echoing loudly against empty metal walls and ceiling. Hideyoshi never left his side, and his hand still remained as they walked steadily through the halls to an unknown destination. It was only when the man started talking again did Zyro assume they were getting close to... wherever it was they were going.  
"Kuro has always been one of our more private cases in the facility." The Director told him, "We never let just _anyone_ interact with him; he's very precious to us... Do believe me when I say that I care for him deeply, Zyro. And I would never have asked _you_ to save his life if I was not desperate."  
Naomi stopped walking and turned to face one of the several doors that lined the hallway. This one had a label that said:

 **"Research Sector 5-8  
Authorized Personnel Only"**

"He's been in his delicate state for quite awhile now." Hideyoshi continued as Naomi swiped her key-card through the card reader on the wall, "And we've tried _effortlessly_ to try and find a way to save his young life... So, when we finally found you, I truly believed that there was hope for our boy yet. Though, it appears that I was wrong in my assumption that you would care enough to save an innocent life."  
Zyro swallowed thickly as he watched the cold woman type in a passcode on the keypad, and the door slid open.  
"However, I won't be quick to make judgments on you. I do still believe that you have the sympathy to save Kuro's life."

 _Don't believe a word they say_

The room was dark, far darker than the bright fluorescent lights of the hallway, and it took Zyro's eyes a few moments to really adjust to the darkness as they walked in. "Which is why I believe that it's important to introduce you to someone who may be able to change your mind..." Zyro furrowed his eyebrows at those words, confused for a moment. But only a moment, for Naomi suddenly stepped to the side and he was revealed to a glowing source of calm light near the far end of the curved room.  
However, the moment he laid his eyes upon it, he froze in abstract horror. His breath hitched and the faint gasp that left his lips was barely noticed by his own ears.  
Suddenly, he couldn't feel the unwanted hand on his shoulder anymore, because he realized that that was one of the least horrifying things he could've wanted in this place.  
Especially compared to this.  
"So, Zyro..." Director Hideyoshi's cold and commanding voice started, boring into his ears from a distance that wasn't there, "Am I wrong?"...

* * *

Fitting the spare key from the owner into the keyhole, Ayano carefully turned the lock and opened the door to Sichiro's apartment.  
Of course, she hadn't resorted to consulting the owner upon arrival. She had _tried_ knocking on the door for about ten minutes at the most, with no answer from anyone on the other side. She had even tried calling the man's name through his door, but still, there was no sound from within. She found this unusual, seeing as how Sichiro was practically never anywhere other than work or home, especially these days.  
It was only after about the ten-minute mark did she finally decide to head back downstairs to the front desk and get a key from the owner.  
Tsubasa had asked her to be the one to go and check on Sichiro, as he was apparently not responding to any phone calls or means of contacting him, and she had agreed. It was the least she could do at this point, considering the man's uncharacteristic behavior as of late.  
As little as she knew about Sichiro, she knew he wasn't prone to paranoid or erratic behavior, as he had been most recently displaying. Not to mention the events of her last visit to him just yesterday. Whatever was going on with Sichiro, she was determined to find out, no matter how much he believed that she wouldn't keep his secrets.

Slowly, the greenette pushed the door to the apartment open, pocketing the key as she took it out of the lock, and gazed into the menacing darkness that lay beyond the doorway as she stepped inside.  
It was cold.  
Unnaturally cold. Sichiro didn't use the thermostat, as far as she knew, but it was colder than it should be, even for that.  
"Sichiro?" She called out, her voice seeming to echo back to her in the unusual emptiness. Reaching over, she flicked on the hall light and made her way to the living room.  
"Sichiro, are you here?" She tried again, looking throughout the small room, only to see the dark and bare front room. The blinds to the veranda were drawn tightly, and none of the appliances in the kitchen seemed to be plugged in, judging by the lack of lights. It appeared that Sichiro had even gone through the trouble of unplugging his stove for... Whatever reason.  
Sucking on her lip, Ayano walked away from the living room/kitchen and walked down the short hallway behind her. She flicked on the hall light and peered into the dark bathroom.  
Nothing there, either.  
The closet had nothing but spare blankets and a cardboard box of old books in it.  
Finally, she came to the bedroom door at the end of the hall, and slowly twisted the knob to open it. She reached inside and turned on the light as she entered, and was immediately met with a more unsettling feeling than she could have previously anticipated.  
Sichiro's bed was perfectly made, and the blinds were drawn tightly on the window, but the drawers to his single dresser were half open and in disarray. There were a few shirts and other various clothing articles hanging out of them. Someone had seemingly just grabbed a bunch of clothes and left them like that.  
Then there was the suit that was folded neatly on top of the wooden dresser. The one that Sichiro always wore and undoubtedly had various pairs of in his closet. He practically never wore anything else _but_ his suits, for as long as she'd known him... And now, here it was; neatly folded on the dresser that had been ransacked of at least half of its contents. And no one to be found.  
"Oh, Sichiro..." Ayano said with a worried huff of breath, "Where did you go?..."...

* * *

It was hardly twenty minutes after they had all established where they stood in this whole mess did the desk on Tsubasa's desk break through their silence with it's ringing. Everyone immediately turned to look at it, and a few of them jumped at the sudden interruption to the mutual silence that had laid between them.  
At once, Tsubasa stood up from his chair and leaned over, picking up the receiver and pressing it to his ear.  
"Hello?..." He asked in an uncharacteristically subdued voice. Everyone else leaned in from where they were to listen to the one side of the conversation that they could hear. "...Alright, send her through."  
Folding her arms firmly over her chest, Madoka watched Tsubasa with a calm earnest in her expression. The silverette glanced at her once, before looking away and licking his lips in a nervous gesture. Then, after several seconds, a click was heard from the other end of the line, and Tsubasa started talking again, using as collected a front as he could.  
"Ayano. You're at Sichiro's apartment?... Is he there?..." He let out a frustrated sigh through his nose, "Alright. Thanks for trying... No, not yet. We're working on it, though. Just get back to Headquarters and we'll figure the rest out... Alright. See you then."

With that, he half-slammed the phone back into the receiver and was left with nothing but a hopeless sigh.  
"So?" Madoka asked, taking a small step closer, "Was he there?"  
"No..." Tsubasa said with a sigh, shaking his head, "From what she said, the place is more or less abandoned. Everything unplugged, drawers empty... He's been gone for well over an hour, and god knows where he could be at this point."  
"So he just made a break for it?" Kite asked.  
"Looks like it..." Tsubasa confirmed, "And we can't actually do anything to track him down. He's been one of our most trusted personnel for years now, and he's hard to keep track of, anyway, so we hardly bothered to try."  
"Well then..." Shinobu muttered quietly, almost to himself.  
"So much for that." Ren sighed, leaning forward on her knees.  
To this, Tsubasa didn't say anything and simply turned away. It was only when it seemed that the silence would settle in again that a well-known buzzing cut through the air. Most of them almost immediately reached into their pockets to check their phones, but we're only stopped by Tsubasa's statement of, "It's me."  
"I thought nobody called you on your cell unless you're out?" Madoka questioned, quirking an eyebrow.  
"They don't," Tsubasa confirmed as he pulled the device out of his pocket. He also knew for himself that there was actually only a handful of people who actually _had_ his cell number. Even then, they didn't often use it unless it was important.  
However, it only took one look at number and name displayed on the screen for Tsubasa to understand the meaning of it.  
"It's Sichiro." He said suddenly, drawing several looks of shock and confusion from the others before he slid the screen across and immediately put it on speaker.  
"Sichiro, is that you?" Tsubasa asked, his voice more desperate-sounding than he meant it to be.  
"Director, listen to me." Sichiro said at the other end of the line, his voice brought down into a hushed whisper, "Whatever Director Hideyoshi says, no matter what he promises you, _do not_ listen to him, alright?"  
"Um, okay, w-why? What's going on?" Tsubasa asked, "Where are you?"

"Just _listen_!" The other man hissed, and Tsubasa bit his lip to silence himself of the questions racing around in his head. "I don't have long, so I have to make this quick... Whatever you do, don't listen to a _word_ that Hideyoshi tells you. He's going to hurt Zyro whether you go against him or not, and that kid is _not_ coming back unless you do something about it...! I've known Hideyoshi for a long time; I've _seen_ the things he's capable of, and he is a backstabbing _ass_ when it comes to promises. If you don't do something, _nobody_ is going to be able too. Alright?"  
Slowly, Tsubasa nodded his head. It was a lot to take in at such a moment's notice, but he would have to make do.  
"Um, alright..." He said, almost breathlessly. Everyone that was crowded around him and the phone exchanged glances, varying emotions corresponding between all of them.  
"Good..." Sichiro sighed, keeping his voice low, "Look, everything's already screwed as it is; I shouldn't even be calling you, but something _big_ is going down, Director, and Hideyoshi is the one pulling all the strings... He's going to find out about this, and you need to be _well_ out of the line of fire when he starts firing, because it's going to happen, and _soon_."  
"S-Sichiro, _how_ do you know all of this?" Tsubasa tried, licking his lips nervously, "What's going on?"  
"I can't say, not like this." Sichiro told him, a sense of urgency leaking into his voice, "I might not even be _able_ to ever tell you after this, but if you're going to act, you need to act _now_. And then get the _hell_ out, because I will be _damned_ if he does not have eyes and ears everywhere on you right now. Alright?"  
"Y-yeah, alright," Tsubasa said with a shaky nod. It was bad enough that everyone else was nervous, let alone him.  
"Good. Good..." Sichiro breathed on the other end before a crackling sound was heard from a distortion in the audio, "Crap... I have to go; _listen_ to what I said, and stick to it... Zyro's depending on it..."  
"Wait, Sichiro-" But before Tsubasa could say anything firmly, the call was ended, leaving him hanging on his own words.

Somewhere, on the other end of town, Sichiro was smashing his cell with the heel of his boot, and shoveling the remains into a sewage grate, before removing himself from the back alley of the old library.

The rest of them were left dumbstruck as though they had just been rammed with a brick wall, staring at the phone that still lay in Tsubasa's hand as though it were going to do something more. But it didn't, as was to be expected.  
Forcing herself to breathe steadily, Madoka looked up at Tsubasa, who instinctively returned her gaze.  
"Well?" She questioned, her expression wary but with a resolute determination to be admired. "What do we do?"  
Tsubasa hardly needed to think about it...

* * *

"You know, I was probably a fool to expect anything better from you." Hideyoshi claimed as they stalked all briskly down the corridor, his hand placed on the small of Zyro's back uncomfortably, "I had such high hopes that you would be able to get along with your fellows... But I see that you don't hold too much regard for them, as I previously thought you would. Quite a disappointment, really."  
Still recovering from the psychological shock, Zyro staggered and nearly fell as they came to a halt in front of the door of the room he had awoken in. Naomi took out her own key-card, and Zyro watched in silent anxiety as she slid it through the card reader. His shaking was barely under control, and his breathing heavy from the picture that was still fresh - and probably always would be - in his mind. How sick did these people have to _be_ to...  
"Even still," Hideyoshi continued "that doesn't mean we can't integrate you into our system... I think you'll be able to provide us with some well-needed information, and some... interesting results."  
The raven shivered at the mere thought, and he remembered Kuro's words to simply oblige. He would - of course, he would - but...  
The sticker - the one he hadn't noticed before - on the door disappeared as it opened, into the wall, and he was roughly shoved inside by Hideyoshi's unwelcoming hand. Zyro righted himself the moment he was able to and immediately turned around, looking on in fear at the man who stood smiling in the doorway.  
"This has been a long time in coming, Zyro..." Hideyoshi claimed, "And I suspect that it will _well_ worth the wait. However; I'm afraid we'll have to wait a little longer before we can really begin... I _hope_ you can be patient with us." Zyro shivered hard, the goosebumps on his flesh making him uncomfortable in his own skin.  
Wait... Oh yes, he could wait... He would wait forever if they let him.  
"But until then..." Hideyoshi watched him with a predatory gaze and smiled at him as Naomi tapped in the code on the keypad. "Welcome home."  
It was the last thing Zyro heard before the door slammed shut.

 **Subject ZERO  
Class: Unknown  
Sentient  
Non-Human  
Life-Giving  
Authorized Personnel Only**


	9. Chapter 8 - On The Run

Chapter 8 - On The Run

* * *

"I almost can't believe we're _actually_ going through with this..." Minoru said breathlessly as they all marched briskly through the halls of the WBBA, the sounds of working and bickering and determination surrounding them all and giving life to their steps.  
"You mean standing up against one of the most powerful men in the world who also just happens to be a manipulative psychopath?" Madoka questioned, "Yeah, I think that's a little hard to believe..."

"The important thing right now," Tsubasa said as he led them through one of their larger workspaces on the forty-second floor, "is getting some sort of a plan together before Hideyoshi finds out that we're doing this. If what Sichiro said is true, then he's watching us from all four corners of the room, so we probably don't have long."

"Okay, but _how_ are we going to make up a plan?" Ren asked, picking up her pace so that the Director would be able to hear her, "He's the _Director_ of the _Tokyo_ WBBA. He is _actually_ the Japanese government; how do you conspire against _that_."

"I don't know..." Tsubasa said with a breath, "But we'll figure something out. We should set up something low-key so that nobody expects anything too soon. Nothing big, and nothing that could draw attention."

" _Sounds_ easy..." Madoka sighed. Tsubasa exchanged a sympathetic gaze with her, but he said nothing.  
"Director!" A familiar voice called, and the group paused briefly to see Ayano (familiar only to a few of them) hurrying towards them through the busy rush of workers moving to and fro. Fortunately, she was used to this and maneuvered through her colleagues with ease until she stood in front of them.  
"I got your message." The green-haired woman told the silverette as soon as she reached them, "Sichiro actually contacted you?"

"Yeah, he did." Tsubasa confirmed, briefly glancing back at the group gathered around, "Hardly a few minutes after you called saying that he wasn't at his apartment. From the sounds of it, he's on the run, and isn't keen on telling anyone where he is."

"On the run?" Ayano repeated, keeping her voice low so that she didn't draw anyone's attention, "But... _why_?"

"We'll explain, but not out here," Tsubasa assured her, and they continued all through the workspaces until they finally came to a vacant control room that was only occupied for a few hours a day in total. As the rest of them headed into the room, Minoru quickly reached forward and tapped Madoka on the shoulder, grabbing her attention.  
"Hey, don't wait up for me, okay?" He said, clearly having something else on his mind, "There's... something I should do. If you'll allow it, that is." It took only a moment of looking at his face for Madoka to understand what he was talking about. She nodded, though her face expressed her concern.  
"You're going to tell him?" She asked.  
"Should I?" Minoru asked, shrugging his shoulders lightly, "I think it'd be a good idea, but you know him better than I do." Madoka sighed through her nose and briefly turned her gaze away from Minoru. She watched as the rest of the children filtered into the room behind Tsubasa and Ayano, biting her lip, before nodding her head as she turned back to the bluenette. "He'd want to know, I know that..." She said softly, pursing her lips slightly.  
Gingka _would_ want to know. She knew him well enough to know that he would even give them hell if they _didn't_ tell him, despite his kind nature... But even so, she still wasn't sure that it was the best idea. Especially not with his delicate mental state, and the fact that he was still getting used to actually walking again. And if they told him everything, they probably wouldn't have the option of leaving him in the hospital anymore.  
However, telling him _would_ be the best thing to do, even with the repercussions that may follow.  
"Just..." She started again, and faltered briefly, "...if you tell him, we might not be able to leave him here. Especially not with what Hideyoshi was saying... He's still healing, too. And I can't imagine what taking him out of the hospital right now would do to his health... Physical or otherwise."  
Minoru nodded slowly at this and didn't meet her gaze for several moments. Finally, he looked up at her, and she could see the earnest understanding in his face.  
"We might not be able to leave him here either way..." Minoru reasoned, unsure.  
Madoka couldn't deny that he was probably right. Her shoulders slumped, and she glanced over her shoulder briefly. She caught Tsubasa's gaze for a moment, who seemed to have been looking at her just before she had turned to look at him. She held it a second and then turned back to Minoru.  
"Okay, I'll tell Tsubasa..." She said, quieter than necessary, "We're going to get so much hell for this, but it's probably for the best. Just... Be careful with him."  
"Trust me, I know," Minoru reassured her, and Madoka knew she could trust that he did. There were no more words between them, and, the moment she so much as blinked, Minoru was gone. She would never know how that worked...  
At least half-satisfied with their agreement, Madoka turned and entered the room herself, closing and locking the door behind her. She once more exchanged a brief glance with Tsubasa as she walked over to his side, and mouthed Gingka's name briefly so that he understood the gist of what their conversation had been about. Tsubasa just nodded, though his expression was troubled, and then turned back to Ayano.  
Now that they were alone, Tsubasa explained what had been occurring in the last couple of hours, and the motivation as to why exactly he had sent her to Sichiro's home in the first place. Ayano listened intently, though it was clear throughout the whole explanation that was she was more than a little unsettled by the thought of the most powerful man in Japan making threats on them over a child _they_ had kidnapped.  
When he was done, the Director could only look at her in earnest.  
"And... that's all we know, as of right now." The silverette concluded, his arms folded over his chest, "Sichiro never gave specifics of how Hideyoshi would carry out his threat, but it didn't sound good in any sense... Whatever he knows about them, it's clearly reason enough for him to run."

"But _what_ would he know?" Ayano asked, looking flustered at the whole of this situation, "What could he _possibly_ know about them that he'd just _run_." Tsubasa just shrugged his shoulders and gestured to her briefly.  
"You tell us." He said, "You know him better than we do." At that, Ayano scoffed, amused at the Director's assumption, and shook her head hopelessly.  
"I've known him for eight years," She told him, shaking her head hopelessly, "and... no, I don't."  
At that, Tsubasa exhaled through his nose and licked nervously at his lips. All of them looked towards him, but he paid them no mind.  
No matter how much Ayano knew (which was clearly about as much as they did) or where they stood at the moment, he knew that they had to act. And they had better do it before Hideyoshi somehow got wind of what they were planning.  
"Alright." He said, straightening himself a bit, "Well, since you know as much as we do, you can help us out. If you're actually willing to go against the government, that is."  
Ayano chuckled inaudibly, and she gave a small smile.  
"Well, not like I can really say _no_ at this point..." She reasoned, folding her arms over her chest as she seemed to contemplate something, "Besides, I always thought there wasn't right about them, anyway."

"Good to hear," Madoka said with a small, grateful smile. Ayano returned it well enough. No doubt that all of them could agree on that.  
"Alright then." Tsubasa said with a note of finality, "Since we're all in agreement, let's get to work."...

* * *

Breathing out a sigh of exhaustion, Gingka carefully sat back down on the edge of his hospital bed, relieved to finally be free of standing after his familiar session with his therapist.  
He had just returned from his now hour and a half long sessions of physical therapy, and it was exhausting, to say the very least. Actually being able to sit down after all of that was a relief, if he was honest with himself.  
As much as he wanted to regain his original strength and get back up on his feet (quite literally), it was a tedious business, and often left him sore and drained beyond belief. But day after day, he kept going, and he kept doing all the strenuous exercises that he was required to do. And, day after day, he kept telling himself that it was all for his wellbeing; so that he could get better. So that, maybe, when his dreaded voice came back, he would have to strength to get up and walk away.  
Of course, it was much more complicated than _that_ , but it was still the example he held on to. It gave him a sense of security, a sense of normalcy, even though he was far from his typical 'normal'. Anything to not have to think about _that_...  
Quietly, Gingka shook his head and reached over to his bedside table where a paper cup filled with apple juice lay and took a generous gulp of it. To get some more vitamins back in him, they said. He definitely needed it, after going through an extended period of malnutrition while he was comatose.  
It was working, so that was good. Just another step towards recovery, which he was definitely looking forward too.  
As he placed the cup back down on the table, he paused briefly, hearing the sound of a soft conversation outside. It wasn't uncommon for him to hear people talking outside in the halls, considering that the door was always wide open so that the doctors and nurses could keep a watchful eye on him. This conversation, though, seemed to be almost right outside of his room, just like when Madoka, Zyro, and the others had come to visit him the first time, or whenever Dr. Amori or one of the nurses was informing them of something before they set foot in his room.  
Listening carefully, he could hear one of the nurses - one of the younger ones; she was sweet, and had the sense to leave his window closed when others opened it - talking to another person outside. Not someone who had been here to see him formerly, from the sounds of it, since she seemed to be explaining his 'delicate' condition. The other person sounded half-resigned and almost impatient as she talked, and he heard them simply say that they understood and weren't going to attack him. They sounded sarcastic, even...  
Gingka quirked an eyebrow and realized that he recognized that voice. Only then did the nurse from outside knock on the doorframe of his door, and poked her head inside.  
"Mr. Hagane, you have a visitor." She said kindly, before disappearing back across the threshold.  
Gingka watched the door for just a moment and was half surprised to see a familiar, but not unwelcome, face wander in through.  
"Kira?" The redhead questioned aloud, furrowing his eyebrows together, "What are _you_ doing here?..."

"'Hello' to you, too." Kira greeted him in turn, folding his arms over his chest and moving back slightly to lean against the shelf parallel his bed. "Flattering, how you greet people." At his blatant sarcasm, Gingka was compelled to smile.  
"Sorry." He apologized lightly, "I just didn't expect to see you here. You've never stopped by before now..."  
Kira sighed through his nose and looked down towards the floor with his one eye.  
"Yeah, well..." He started with a breath, "I figured I probably _should_ , all things considered... Especially after the hell I put you through..." Gingka raised an eyebrow, slightly confused.  
"Meaning?..." He asked.  
"Well, I kind of helped with your kidnapping and low-key torture by Doji, _so_..." The boy clarified, "you know. That probably calls for _some_ sort of apology from my end..."  
Gingka chuckled softly at that, and simply gave Kira a small smile.  
"It's fine." He said, relatively dismissively, "You don't have to apologize for it." At this, Kira actually looked surprised and stared at the redhead for several moments before speaking again.  
" _Seriously_?" The boy stressed, his one eye wide with disbelief and confusion, "You're forgiving me, _that_ easily? _That's_ it?"  
Gingka shrugged his shoulders.  
"Well, yeah." He answered, "I mean, it's not like you really _knew_ any better, right? Trust me, I knew Doji... And I know that, to him, you were all just pawns that he could dispose of at a moment's notice. And you all did his work, because, clearly, you had nothing else." The redhead hung his head slightly and had a wistful expression on his face. "Besides... I'm not one to hold a grudge that badly."  
Again, he raised his head to look at Kira, who stood there with a dumbfounded look painted humorously on his face. Gingka almost laughed at this, but quickly stopped himself.  
"Huh..." Kira finally muttered after several moments, and adjusted his position against the shelf behind him, "Alright then... So you're _fine_ with it?"

"Yeah," Gingka answered simply.  
Kira looked pointedly at him for a second and then turned the expression down to the floor. He seemed just about to speak once more - as a confirmation that they were both on fair terms - when a sudden swoosh of cold air from beside him caused him to jump with a short yelp and look over in alarm. Where there had previously been no one standing just a second ago, now stood who he recognized as Minoru Hagane, Gingka's own brother.

"-orry, but I have news!" The blue-haired man started quickly as he manifested into the room, making brief gestures with his hands at his sides.  
The moment he appeared, however, Gingka's immediate reaction (clearly underlined by panic) was to reach over and grab the vase of flowers at the corner of his table and throw it in his brother's direction with an incoherent exclamation. Minoru nearly shrieked in alarm but put his hands up in front of him upon instinct. Almost immediately did the vase - with the flowers in tow - slow in its path towards him, before completely stopping and hovering in mid-air like strung-up statues. This didn't stop the telepath from getting splashed with the water that flew out of it, though.  
With impressive patience and balance, Minoru brought both the flowers and the glass vase the rest of the way over to him, before grabbing both in each hand and placing the daisies back into it. He then reached back and placed it on the shelf behind him, and then turned back to the rest of the room. And he was met with the wide eyes and shocked expression of his brother.  
" _Minoru_!" Gingka hissed, letting go of the breath that he had been holding, "I thought we agreed?! No _teleporting_ in here!..."

"I know! I know, we did!" Minoru conceded, "But I didn't have time to check in and check out!"

"And... _why_?" Kira asked slowly as he came down from his state of alarm that was almost equal to Gingka's. Minoru glanced at him briefly and then continued to speak in an urgent tone.  
"Okay, we don't have very long, since someone is _bound_ to come check on you-" He gestured to Gingka to make his point clear, "-eventually, so both of you just shut up and listen because this is an emergency and I will _not_ have questions!"  
Confused by this, both Kira and Gingka nodded their consent to this, and let Minoru keep talking.  
"Okay, so I was at the WBBA with Madoka and Tsubasa this morning, right? And then we got this call from Zyro's parents, and it turned out that he _hadn't_ actually gotten back home last night, even though we saw him go, which is weird because we know it's not like him. But after that, we got a call from this guy who's apparently the Director of the _Tokyo_ WBBA, who called to say that, apparently, they _kidnapped_ Zyro and they have him, and he made a threat to Tsubasa to not do anything to try and find him if he cares about whether Zyro stays safe or not. So that happened, and then literally not even a half hour ago we got a call from this _other_ guy who works at the WBBA, and apparently he knows a lot of things about what's going on since he seems to have just skipped town, and called to warn Tsubasa that we _have_ to go after Zyro, because the _other_ WBBA is going to do _things_ to him no matter _what_ we do. And so doing that will put us all in mortal peril, so I'm pretty sure the general consensus that we are currently reaching is that once we make a plan on _how_ to get Zyro back, if possible, we're probably going to have to run from Metal Bey City altogether before we start being hunted down by the Japanese government, and I needed to tell you-" he once more gestured to Gingka, "-this because it's most definitely not a good idea to leave you here when we're being hunted down and they know that we're friends with you, so that's why I came here! Is there _anything_ you need clarification on?"  
All of this was said so quickly that both Gingka and Kira were left staring at the younger twin in aghast shock. Neither of them were able to say a thing for a few seconds, and Minoru was briefly worried that he had dumped a bit too much information on them all at once. That was, until Kira finally spoke, his one eye wide and a look of incredulous disbelief on his face.  
"I'm sorry... _what_?!" He exclaimed. Though, from the look on his face, he seemed to have understood at least most of what had been said.  
"Oh dear lord..." Gingka muttered softly, only to himself, and looked away briefly from his brother. "Oh, lord... Okay... Oooohhh lord..."

"Okay, I _know_ that's a lot to process in a really short amount of time..." Minoru said once he had given both of them a second, "and I know you're-" yet another gesture to Gingka, "-still healing and you're _definitely_ not in the best condition for any of this, but bad things are happening. And if we're running, then we need to take the two of you with us... Well, _Gingka_ , at least. I don't know what _you_ want to do..." Minoru said the last sentence while gesturing to Kira, who he obviously hadn't really expected to be here.  
"W-wait, _why_ do you need to make me with you?" Gingka asked, hoping to get more clarification.  
"Because, from the sounds of it, the Tokyo WBBA is gonna come after us if we do anything, so I'm _assuming_ we're making plans to evacuate the area once we actually _have_ a plan... And I mentioned it to Madoka, and she agreed that we should probably take you with us because they would know that you're close to us, and also that you're in the hospital because they can find out some crazy shit like that. _And_ , considering the disgusting amount of power they seem to have, it _probably_ wouldn't be too much of a stretch to assume that they would come after _you_ and use that against us, getting us to back off, and then we can't do anything and just bad things in general. Is that clear, at all?"  
Slowly, Gingka nodded, absentmindedly pulling at the loose fabric of his pants.  
"Yeah..." He said, letting out a heavy breath, "Yeah, I think so... I'm having some issues processing some of that, but I think so... Good thinking, anyway."

"Thanks," Minoru said quickly, "But if we're going to go, we need to go _now_. Or at least within the next few minutes. I seriously doubt your doctors will approve of finding me here without knowing that I was even in the building."

"Yeah, well they'll disapprove even more when they find out I'm not here," Gingka stated as he reached over to his bedside table and picked up his headband, which had been folded there for quite some time. "I can't even imagine the legal trouble this could get us in, being in _this_ ward, nonetheless..." The redhead murmured as he positioned the signature cloth back on his forehead. "Ehhh, we can figure something out... Maybe... hopefully..." Minoru said with an awkward shrug of his shoulders, "You ready?"

"I guess," Gingka answered, and stood from his sitting position on the bed.  
"Okay, that's it, I'm coming," Kira stated as Gingka got to his feet.  
"Are you sure?" Minoru asked.  
"Obviously not, but when has that stopped anyone?" Kira asked in exasperation. For Minoru, that was answer enough.  
With their decisions made, the younger twin reached out both hands, placing one on Kira's shoulder, and the other on Gingka's triceps just below his shoulder. Then they were gone, with hardly a trace of their ever being there left behind...

* * *

When they truly put it to the task, making a half-assed plan for going against the Japanese government to rescue one of their friends was surprisingly quick, though in no real way was it _easy_. Considering what it was likely possible for Hideyoshi to do to them (let alone their reputations), they had all mutually agreed that leaving Metal Bey City would be the best choice of action. Or at least it was in terms of rescuing Zyro, which was a task that most of them had agreed to take on.  
Tsubasa, meanwhile, insisted that he had to stay at the WBBA, where he could manage and pull the strings for their plan from a distance. The rest of them would be heading out onto what they were unofficially dubbing as 'the battlefield', where there was hardly any doubt that the Tokyo WBBA would come after them. They had also decided that, considering the incident inside Tsubasa's office, they should get rid of their cellphones and endeavor to correspond in a different way that couldn't be easily tracked. If the rest of them were basically going into hiding at this point, then cell phones with satellite reception and tracking wouldn't do them any good.  
Now all they really had to do was figure out a way of perhaps contacting Sichiro, put together another part to the plan that actually involved _getting_ to the Tokyo WBBA without being caught, and where it was that they were going to go to 'lay low' for the time being.  
So far, Tsubasa couldn't think of any locations that the Tokyo WBBA couldn't find out about, but he assured them that he would find somewhere that they could lay low at, even if only for a short while.  
"What do you plan to do with these?" Ren asked as she placed her phone inside the box on one of the desks inside the room, "Can't imagine anything _good_ , personally..."

"Well, we'll keep them on lockdown for the time being," Tsubasa explained, "make sure nobody gets their hands on them. We shouldn't necessarily _have_ to destroy them, but... We might end up having too if things get out of hand."

"Knew I should've saved those photos at home..." Shinobu muttered to himself absentmindedly, and a few of them chuckled at this. Tsubasa allowed himself a brief smile at this.  
"Of course, we'll still need to find a way to communicate, but it looks like we'll have to cross that bridge when we get to it." He explained.  
"Hey, what about this?" Maru suddenly piped up, holding up her left wrist for them all to see. Upon it was the same bracelet that Tsubasa had given her months ago when they had endeavored to hunt down Alcorin away from Metal Bey. It was the one way that they had stayed in contact with Tsubasa over the trip, and it had helped them a great deal in figuring out where they should go next.  
"We could use this!" Maru suggested, "It only relies on the satellite, and there's no automatic tracking device, either - I checked! I already know how to use it, so it'll be easy to contact you when we need to."  
While she spoke, Tsubasa looked down at the small girl with an unreadable look on his face and seemed to contemplate this suggestion for a few brief seconds. He didn't say anything, however, and looked over at Madoka for her own thoughts on Maru's idea. The pained look on her face was all that he needed to know what their answer would be.  
Madoka returned his gaze, and they seemed to have a silent conversation before a decision was made. Only then did Tsubasa finally speak.  
"That... _is_ a good idea, Maru, I appreciate it, but..." He paused, "while that in itself is a good idea, it probably isn't a good idea for _you_ to come along."  
Maru's expression immediately fell, her enthusiasm gone in an instant.  
"But why?" She asked, looking crestfallen. "I know how to use it better than anyone does!"

"Um, Maru..." Madoka choked out as steadily as she could, "Can I talk to you for a moment?" Maru looked confused, but followed Madoka up the stairs to the top of the room anyway, briefly glancing at Tsubasa on her way by.  
Tsubasa could only give her an apologetic look before uncomfortably returning to the conversation with the rest of the group.  
Once her and Maru were just barely within earshot of the others, the brunette knelt down on her knees in front of her student, ready to explain her thoughts as best as she could.  
Maru beat her to the punchline.  
"Madoka, you can't just make me stay!" Maru protested before anything else could be said, "I can help, you know I can! I know how to use this; I've helped before! You can just not take me _now_!"

"Maru..." Madoka breathed out, silencing the pinkette. Madoka looked at her earnestly for a few seconds, before she finally sighed. "Look, Maru..." She began, "I know that this is a lot to take in right now, especially after what's happened with Zyro, and _everything_ else... I know you can help, I've never doubted that you can, but I think- let me talk." She said firmly when Maru was about to interrupt. "This time, I think it's best that you stay _here_..."

"But Madoka, we've been in serious situations before!" Maru tried, "You let me come when we went to track down Alcorin!"

"Yes, but that was tracking down a murderous sociopath with supernatural abilities - something I _know_ isn't impossible to beat." Madoka pointed out, "But this... _This_ isn't Alcorin, Maru. It's not Nemesis, it's not the Garcias, it's not _any of them_... It is a _twisted_ man, in a _very_ high position of power, who can do things that none of _those_ people could. He kidnapped Zyro, he threatened Tsubasa, he's probably done a hundred other bad things that he's actually _allowed_ to do, because of _who he is_." Madoka paused for a second, and looked away, wiping the soft tears from her cheeks.  
She had to pull herself together...  
"Maru." She said, "This isn't debatable. We - the rest of us - are going out there. And I know you want to come, but _out there_ is not just some scary guy with superpowers... It's safer _here_."

"But you _heard_ Sichiro!" Maru protested as her voice broke, " _Nowhere_ is safe, we should know that!"

"But _here_ is better than _out there,_ Maru!" Madoka pressed.  
Lavender eyes pleaded desperately with her, small face shiny with small tears.  
Madoka felt the violent tug that pulled at her heart; she felt the aching feeling in her chest and the guilt in the pit of her stomach. She felt herself wanting to cave to her student's wishes; wanted to tell her that 'yes, she could come if she wanted too'. But she couldn't do that. Maybe some other time, in later years, when it was something lighthearted, something _fun_ that she would think twice about before refusing.  
But that was not _this_ time, and she could not allow herself to be the compliant caretaker she was. Not this time...  
So, with her heart breaking, Madoka shook her head and gently wiped away the tears off of Maru's soft cheeks. Leaning in, Madoka took both sides of Maru's face, not allowing her to look away. Gazing into those wide eyes that she had always loved, Madoka confessed to all the years that had gone by.  
"I _love_ you." She said softly, voice cracking, "I've _always_ loved you, Maru, _so much_... And I don't want you to get hurt. And _god forbid_ if I let you... Okay?"

Maru rubbed harshly at her eyes, but nodded anyway, sucking in light sobs as Madoka gently pulled into her a hug. Small hands clutched at the shiny fabric of her teacher's jacket, and she sniffled softly as the tears continued to roll down her soft cheeks.  
She might've said something in response to all of that like she should, but she remained silent, quivering in the arms of the only real caretaker she had ever known. She had her doubts, but she could hope that she could trust Madoka on this...  
The two of them pulled away after a few seconds, and Madoka wiped away the shiny streams from her student's face, before moving to stand.  
"W-wait!" Maru stuttered earnestly and was suddenly fumbling with her wrist to pull off the metallic bracelet she wore.  
"Maru..."

"Just take it, please...!" The pink-haired girl pleaded quietly, finally undoing the clasp and holding it up for Madoka to take. The brunette sighed through her nose in exhaustion, but took the bracelet from her student, anyway.  
It was the least she could do to ease her own guilt at this point.

"Are you ready?" Tsubasa ascended the stairs quietly, being careful as to not interrupt the private moment between the two of them. Her shaking silence said something entirely different than Madoka's nod and small 'yup' as she stood at full height, wiping the rest of her tears off on her jacket sleeve. Tsubasa wasn't convinced, but he chose to humor her, albeit reluctantly.  
"We need to leave soon." he said, "Ayano's getting the choppers ready as we speak, and I don't like the thought of what could happen if we stay here much longer."  
Madoka just nodded, obviously struggling to compose herself again. Tsubasa briefly glanced down at Maru, who stood staring at the ground quietly.  
"Wait, what about Minoru?" Ren asked upon hearing Tsubasa's words. "He just sort of took off; aren't we going to wait for him?"

"Depending on how long he takes, we might not have time too." Tsubasa moved forward and grabbed hold of the door handle. "If he doesn't show up, then-"

"Heeeeyyy..." Came the familiar voice of the youngest Hagane twin once Tsubasa had opened the door. The group of them stared at the sight before them, which was something that they hadn't exactly expected to see upon emerging from the control room.  
On the other side of the door stood Minoru, Gingka, and - shockingly - Kira, all of them looking a little less than well. Minoru, for one, was soaked through the front of his skirt and part of his skirt.  
Gingka - whom they were more than a little surprised to see - was hunched over in the chair he had been seated in, looking unhealthily pale.  
Kira - who they were _definitely_ surprised to see - wasn't doing too much better as he stood doubled over in a bow, clutching his stomach with a soft groan to be heard every now and again. Needless to say, it was quite the scene to suddenly walk upon.  
"What happened to _you_..." Tsubasa asked, dumbfounded as he looked to and fro between all three of them.  
"Teleporting is _evil_..." Kira groaned. He looked like he was about ready to throw up.  
"And why are _you_ wet?" The silverette asked, looking Minoru up and down and eyeing the wet portion of his clothing.

"I threw a vase at him..." Gingka answered shamefacedly, as he held a hand to his mouth.

"You _actually_ brought him..." Madoka stated, shaking her head with an unreadable expression.  
"Yeah, that was kinda the point..." Minoru answer, averting her eyes.  
"There's really no hope of leaving me behind at this point..." Gingka breathed. "I'm a stubborn ass with hardly any concern for my own safety; we know this..."  
A few of them sweat-dropped at that.

"I figured that it might not be best to leave him-" Minoru gestured to his brother. "-if we're leaving. You know... Since Hideyoshi seems to know... things."  
Tsubasa sighed, pursing his lips. "I guess that's... at least _somewhat_ reasonable, all things considered. I'm going to have a _lot_ of explaining to do to the hospital, though..."

"Yeah, sorry about that..."

"Director!" Everyone's attention was drawn away from the three new arrivals to look towards Ayano, who came hurrying back up to them, gasping quietly from the rush.  
"They're ready." She said, "You can head up at any time."

"Thank you." Ayano's face then contorted in confusion when she lay eyes on Gingka, and gestured to him as she turned back to Tsubasa.  
"Um... Isn't _he_ supposed to be in the hospital?"

"Well, yes, technically," Tsubasa answered. "Look, I know they're going to be hounding us about this, but we're just going to have to make something up. Family emergency, legal situations, whatever we can, alright?"  
Ayano sighed and tapped her fingers against her thigh, then nodded. "Alright, but if I get fired for this-"

"Trust me, I'm lucky I'm _still_ Director after half of the shit that's been going down lately. You're fine, for now."  
Ayano huffed and silently agreed, before looking to the rest of the group who she knew was waiting for their ride. "All right, follow me," she said. "The sooner we get you guy's out of here and to a safe house, the better."

"The roof?" Minoru asked, looking at Madoka, who nodded. "Okay, we'll meet you up there."  
He exchanged glances with Gingka, who seemed to silently consent to something that none of them could understand. However, the purpose was clear when Minoru gently placed his hand on his brother's shoulder, and then the two of them were gone.  
Ayano muttered something about 'not even asking' before she finally started to lead the group away to head to the rooftop.  
As they started off, Ren and Shinobu both walked in step with Kira on either side of him, pointing out how the pastel-haired boy had actually decided to come along, even though he was no longer 'obligated' to by his 'debt' to Zyro.  
"Oh please..." Kira sighed at their implications, " _he_ says I'm not. But the kid clearly doesn't understand what it means to save someone's life..."  
"So, _you_ still consider yourself indebted to him, is what you're saying," Shinobu stated rather than asked.  
Kira sighed irritably at this and rolled his eye.  
"Yeah, sure," he responded, "if you _want_ to put it like that."  
"So, basically..." Ren pressed, "you're saying that you _do_ care about him!"  
"What?! No!"  
"Really? 'Cause that is definitely the face of someone who cares about someone."  
"Shut up!"  
Tsubasa just barely stifled a laugh from behind the rest of the group and watched as the three of them quietly bickered and teased and ignored each other (or attempted to ignore, on Kira's part). They were only about a few meters from the staircase when Tsubasa felt his phone go off in his pocket.  
Never stopping in their ascent towards the roof, the silverette pulled out the device, looking at the screen for an identity. His heart immediately froze in his chest, his breath hitching sharply before he shoved his phone back into his pocket, determined to ignore it.  
There was no way that they could know _already_. There was _no way_ that they could... But he shouldn't be surprised, and he knew that he shouldn't.  
Sichiro had said that they could have eyes and ears everywhere; who was he to say that he was wrong?  
But even after he ignored it, the calls kept coming, and it was becoming harder and harder to ignore them as they ascended to the top of the building. And it was only as they finally reached the rooftop did the constant buzzing in his pocket finally start to become unbearable.  
He knew he was going to have to answer it eventually, but he wasn't going to cave before he got his friends out of this city and off to somewhere safe.  
Wherever 'safe' was, exactly.

As expected, Gingka and Minoru were already on the rooftop waiting for him, with Gingka already situated into one of the two helicopters that were ready and waiting. Ayano yelled over the sound of the blades and made sure that everybody who was going got themselves strapped in properly.  
After that was done, she hurried back over to where Tsubasa was standing with Maru, Madoka, and Minoru, informing him that everyone else was ready to go. She then asked where she should tell the pilots to carry them, which left both Tsubasa and Madoka to make the quick decision on the location.  
"Can't you just send us to one of the Safe Houses over towards Niigata?!" Madoka asked. "They're one of the most anonymous places there is!"

"Yeah, to people who aren't with the government!" Tsubasa pointed out.

"It could be our only shot though!"

"Well, how well could they track it?!"

"Considering they _are_ the government?! Pretty easily!"

"Well, make a decision!" Ayano pressured, "We don't have all day!"

"I know..." Tsubasa said, softer than he meant too.  
The overwhelming buzzing in his pocket was more than enough proof that they didn't have long before something was done. The silverette then felt a light tapping on his shoulder, and he turned to look at Minoru, who he had almost completely forgotten was there.  
"I know a place!" The younger twin shouted over the sound of the blades.  
"Where is it?!" Ayano asked, stepping in.  
"Do you know where Oguni is?!"

"Of course!"

"There's this place I know of, just North of there! I can give directions!"

With that, Ayano hurried him away towards the emptier helicopter, allowing him to tell her about the location he had in mind. Madoka turned back to Tsubasa, but he quickly urged her along before she could say anything.  
With only a longing glance back towards the Director and her subordinate, Madoka hurried off towards the chopper and boarded with practiced precision.  
Tsubasa watched her go, feeling the dreaded tug in his heart as his phone started buzzing yet again. He never took his eyes off of his departing friends as he finally pulled it out of his pocket, slid his thumb across the screen, and answered.

"Yes?" He asked coldly.

" _Tsubasa_..." The menacing voice on the other end seethed calmly. "It seems that you failed to understand my previous demands... I specifically told you _not_ to take _any_ form of action to come looking for Zyro Kurogane; unless, of course, you _want_ him to pay for your own actions?"  
"You say that like he _won't_ be paying for them anyway," Tsubasa remarked.  
Hideyoshi said nothing for a moment, but his smooth yet frightening voice quickly picked up again.  
"Alright then... I like to think of myself as a merciful person, so I'm going to take pity on you, Tsubasa. I'll give you _one_ last chance. _Stand. Down_. And I won't have to make any drastic measures. I'd think _very_ carefully about this if I were you, Tsubasa. Do you _really_ want other people to suffer because of your arrogance?"  
Tsubasa said nothing; however, it wasn't out of fear, or a loss of words, or from too many muddled thoughts in his head. His thoughts were quite clear, and he had many words to say. But he said none of them.  
Instead, he looked down at Maru, who stood looking up at him, seeming to understand the position they stood in. But of course she did - she was the student of the smartest woman he knew.  
Once more, Tsubasa looked back up towards his friends, and he watched in silence as they were carried off to a place that he could only hope would keep them safe for as long as possible. Finally, Tsubasa leaned his head into his phone, and never gave Hideyoshi a second thought as he sealed his fate.  
"Kiss my ass." And he hung up.


	10. Chapter 9 - Guilt

Chapter 9 - Guilt

* * *

The good part of a day had passed before the twin helicopters that carried the group started to lower down towards the ground. The sudden drop in elevation jarred everyone from their travel-dazed states, and eventually woke up the few that had ended up falling asleep in either helicopter.  
Upon glancing out the windows, the group found themselves looking out over a sea of trees and foliage, with no sign of civilization - save for the small town a few miles to the south - in sight. If they didn't know any better, they almost would've assumed that the pilots had flown them into the near middle of nowhere. However, they knew that there had to be _some_ reasoning for them being brought here, so nobody tried to question it. And they were proven to be right, once both helicopters had landed in the clearing they hadn't noticed before, and they saw a humble, two-story house standing before them.  
It took a few minutes before everyone had finally exited both helicopters, the last of which was Minoru, who had been sitting in the cabin with the pilot of the lead helicopter for the whole trip. He had been supposedly giving directions; the exact ones that had lead them here - wherever 'here' was supposed to be. It was only after the younger Hagane twin bid the pilot a brief goodbye and the helicopters were taking off again that Madoka - who was graciously acting as a brief crutch for Gingka (albeit refraining from touching him) - spoke the question was undoubtedly on everyone's minds.  
"Hey, Minoru..." She began, "Where are we, exactly?"  
To their surprise, Minoru answered quite simply. "My house." He said, much to their shock.  
"Wait, _your_ house?" Kira asked incredulously, briefly looking back and forth between the man and the farmhouse that stood before them.  
"Well... My uncle's, really, but... You know." The blue-haired man said with a slow shrug. "Hardly anyone knows that this place is out here, and anybody who ever did know never cared. So... I figured it might be the safest place to be, at this point."  
The group briefly inspected the house from where they  
stood on the hill that led down to the building, wary of what could possibly be waiting inside. From the looks of the overgrown shrubbery, long dead plants that adorned the patio, and the peeling paint of the exterior, nobody had lived in this house in a long time. They doubted that anyone had even been there for a good few years, considering the state of it.

"Of course, it's not in the best shape..." Minoru said, seeming to read everyone's minds. "But nobody has really been here for about seven years, so..."  
"Wait, I thought you said this was your uncle's house?" Ren asked.  
At the mention of his uncle, Minoru suddenly looked quite uncomfortable, and become reluctant to speak. "Well..." He breathed nervously, "... he hasn't exactly been around here in a while... you could say..."  
A few worried glances were sent his way at his last words, which were spoken more quietly than the rest; however, none of them said anything about it and decided to leave the man be. He was clearly uncomfortable talking about it, and they at least had the decency to spare him whatever sort of discomfort it may be causing him.  
But while they spared his feelings, it didn't make them feel any better at the ominous way he had spoken of his uncle just now. Upon looking back towards the house, Madoka caught Gingka's expression out of the corner of her eye and noticed that he looked... sad. It was a weak way of putting it, but it was the only way she _could_ put it. He just looked... sad. And it didn't take a genius to understand what he could be sad about, considering that he was the one who knew the most about Minoru out of all of them. She could ask him about it later when they were all settled into their current hiding place.  
The group started down the hill and had only a few mishaps with the shrubbery surrounding the house before they finally found themselves on the porch. They allowed Minoru to work at the locked door, watching as he dug through one of the cobweb-filled flower-beds until he pulled out an old, rusty key. As useless as it looked, it did the trick in unlocking the door, which creaked open unpleasantly on its rusted hinges. But the moment the door opened, everyone immediately wished that it hadn't.

The most putrid, stomach-churning smell practically exploded out from the confines of the house, blasting them all in the face with a stench that could make demons cry. There were one or two people that managed not to gag, while everyone else doubled over and turned away; the more weak-stomached members of the group immediately ran to vomit into the overgrown grass.  
"Oh my _god,_ what _IS_ that?!" Ren cried, just barely holding herself up on the railing of the stairs.  
Nobody was keen to answer, all of them too busy aiming themselves away from the putrid smell that emanated from the house.  
"It smells like something crawled in there and _died_..." Kira choked, bent over the railing of the patio.  
"Probably because something _did_..." Gingka breathed. Most of them turned towards him in surprise, and he continued upon seeing their confused faces. " _That_... is the smell of decay..." He said, swallowing thickly with a hand placed over his mouth.  
" _How_ do you know that...?" Madoka asked painstakingly. Despite her question, it was clear she didn't want an answer.  
"I grew up around it..." Gingka answered quietly, but everyone heard him nonetheless.  
"You know what?" Shinobu whispered, shaking his head. "I don't even wanna know... I _don't_ wanna know..."  
It took a good twenty minutes before any of them even had the nerve to set foot inside the house. The acrid odor that pervaded every surface hadn't faded, but they had at least stood outside long enough for the place to air out at least partially. Even if it still smelled, they could at least say that they had grown accustomed to it the relatively short amount of time they spent at the doorway. But, excluding the smell, the interior could've definitely looked worse, considering the outward state of the house.

A thick coat of dust covered nearly every visible surface; stringy cobwebs filled the corners of each room and cupboard; the old paint on the walls was peeling away; various droppings of multiple critters could be found across the expanse of wooden floors. It obviously wasn't a five-star establishment after years of abandonment, but it could've been in far worse condition as far as they were concerned.  
"Charming..." Kira muttered as he wandered into the living room with Shinobu and Kite. Surprisingly, it didn't hold as much sarcasm as they would've expected, but they supposed that the smell of a decaying corpse (or they assumed, from what Gingka had stated) was enough to set even _him_ off. It was even more unsettling when they considered the fact that they really didn't know where it actually _was_. The thought of suddenly stumbling upon the dead carcass of some sort of rat - or maybe quite a few of them - was less than appealing. With that in mind, all of them were sure to watch where they stepped and to keep an eye out for any form of rotting fur that could be laying about.  
"Well, you know..." Madoka said aloud as she looked around the dining room that branched off from the main entry hall. "This place doesn't look _too_ bad... I've seen worse places that were abandoned for less time than this has been."  
"Not too bad for being fully furnished, either," Ren commented as she hit the side of a plush chair tucked into a desk, triggering a mini-avalanche of dust. She then gagged at the disgusting odor that rose from the chair, clearly having been embedded in its fabric for as long as the dust had.  
"Yeah, we could _definitely_ do without the smell..." Kite said, still looking a little pale in the face from the persistent odor that refused to fade.  
"What _is_ that, anyway...?" Eight asked, still holding one of his hands over his nose.  
"I'd say a raccoon, personally..." Kira said, "I don't think even a dozen rats could make _that_ smell."  
"What do _you_ say, Gingka?" Madoka asked, turning her turquoise eyes towards the redhead near her. "You seem to be the expert on that sort of thing... apparently..."  
Gingka looked slightly comfortable at the subject, more so than he had in smelling the terrible stench that had erupted from the old house, and he refused to look her in the eye.  
Madoka was about to dismiss herself when Gingka answered with the most bluntness he could ever muster.  
"It's a dead body," he said.  
In saying this, he brought everyone's attention to him and silenced any sort of talk that could have previously been going on. The house was struck into silence; a silence that they all knew far too well from months of unnerving discoveries and truths that should have stayed in the closet from long ago.  
Ren was the first one to break it, and her voice shook as she spoke, her face gone pale. "I-I'm sorry... w-what?" she stuttered. Her head was tilted forward, hoping that she had heard Gingka wrong.  
Gingka said nothing and that was all the answer they needed.  
"So, _not_ like a dead animal, but..." Kite started to ask, but his voice trailed off when he saw Gingka's grim expression. Despite this, he still didn't look at any of them, his eyes instead fixated towards the other end of the room, opposite the door. Finally, they all turned to see what he was looking at.  
In the midst of adapting to the horrid smell of the house and investigating the less-than-sanitary premises, none of them had noticed where Minoru had gotten to. Hadn't noticed as he had walked numbly into his childhood home. Hadn't noticed when he had walked almost immediately towards the opposite end of the front entrance hall, where the entrance to the kitchen stood. And they definitely hadn't noticed when he had practically thrown himself against the wall on their side after looking fearfully through the archway.  
That was where he stood; eyes wide and horrified, his hand pressed firmly over his mouth, his arm wrapped tightly around his torso. Even without all of that, the way he leaned against the wall for support, his shoulders shook with transparent tears leaking from his eyes was enough to show his inner workings.

"Mi-Minoru?" Madoka stuttered, immediately stepping forward in concern for the man. But Gingka - though it should've been physically impossible in his current state - beat her there. He was there at Minoru's side before any of them could even think to step forward, but how he had managed that, none of knew - because none of them had actually seen it. When he was beside Minoru, Gingka seemed to understand that there was no point in asking him what was wrong, and instead walked a few small steps into the kitchen. He instinctively looked to his left.  
" _Oh_..." He breathed, and took a step back, steadying himself on the wall. Madoka was the least hesitant of the rest of the group and made her way the quickest over towards the twins to see what was causing both of them to react in such discomfort. She looked to where Gingka had looked, and she got her answer.  
Strewn across the kitchen floor was the body of a man. Not because it _looked_ like a man; it couldn't be recognized as one anymore. The clothes and size were the only indicators of any sort of gender. The rest was all bones; bleached white and picked clean of any skin or muscle tissue, with the melted remnants of some few internal organs in a congealed puddle underneath it. There were still some flies hovering over the carcass, feeding on whatever remained of it. The sight was revolting and caused Madoka to reel back along with Gingka. The others had roughly the same reactions, and they were all struck into immediate shock.  
"Oh my god..." Ren muttered to herself, and she was heard running back through the front door and down the steps again. Eight wasn't too far behind her.  
" _Why_ is _that_ there?" Kira asked stiffly. " _Why_?"  
"I think he probably _died_ there, so..." Kite answered uncomfortably.  
"So what did he _do_? Just lay down and _die_?"

"His neck is broken..." Gingka said quietly, thankfully drawing the attention of the younger bladers who weren't having the best time. "His spine is split underneath his skull, that's why it's bent at that angle. You can't just break your neck like that, someone has to do it for you..."  
"But Minoru said that nobody even really knows this place is out here...!" Madoka pointed out, "And, either way... W-who would just _do_ that?!"  
"I did..." Minoru's voice, hoarse and pulled tight, was a shock in the silence overhanging their questions. It actually took a moment for them to realize that he was the one who had said it. All eyes went to the blue-haired man leaning against the wall, body shaking violently with quiet sobs that didn't reach their ears.  
"W-what...?" Madoka asked, hoping that she had misheard him; hoping that they had _all_ misheard him.

" _I_ DID!" Minoru cried out, and he gave way to a mass of choked sobs and strangled whimpers as he slid down the length of the wall and onto the floor. All of them stood there, entirely dumbstruck, shocked, and they soon found themselves standing around stupidly while Minoru sobbed into himself, the body of his uncle broken and gone on the floor.  
And through Minoru's cries, Gingka could hear his own; and the strangled sounds of his own father that he had buried so long ago...

* * *

Nearly 24 hours had passed since Tsubasa had aided his friends in their escape. And nearly 24 hours had passed since Hideyoshi had called him and restated the threat that he previously gave him beforehand. In all of those 24 hours, Tsubasa would be lying if he said that he had gotten any sleep. It wasn't just from his anxiety, either. He had been up all night with Ayano and the rest of the overall Management team settling terms with the hospital on Gingka's sudden, unsupervised discharge, and there had been a little more than a bit of shouting from either end of the line. However, in the end, they had managed to at least somewhat settle the whole ordeal with some cheques made and some passed-around medical records.  
Aside from that, Tsubasa had spent the better part of the night in consoling Maru and Benkei in their own worries and had also been working with Ayano on and off on the whole 'Sichiro Subject', as they were now calling it. Neither of them were able to get very far with it, since looking into Sichiro's background didn't come up with anything that they didn't already know, and asking any of their co-workers or anyone who knew Sichiro was pointless enough as it was. Attempting to track his phone was all but forgotten; there were very few people at the organization trusted enough that they didn't have to keep any trackers on them - Sichiro just happened to be one of those people. Even trying to track the signal or IP address from his phone was tossed aside, as Ayano had said: if Sichiro was indeed as paranoid as they believed, he wouldn't bother keeping his private phone with him. That left them with dead ends no matter where they looked.  
And with Hideyoshi's very vague threat hanging over their heads, it was easy to understand why neither of them was at a point where they could even come close to relaxing.  
Tsubasa had sat up all night with Maru as she slept on his office's couch, battling off any restlessness she may be experiencing while anxiously waiting for something to happen. Another phone call, an ominous message, the failure of all power throughout the city; anything, really. He doubted that Hideyoshi was incapable of any of those things, and the mere thought of _what_ he could able to do was terrifying. The waiting was the worst part. And there was nothing he could do _but_ wait; either until Hideyoshi decided to make his move, or until Madoka and the others managed to get through to them from wherever they were.  
And now, as he sat at his desk, absently hovering over the various papers that had been faxed to him by the hospital, it was the best thing he could possibly hope for...

* * *

Hours had passed since the discovery of Ryuji Hisakawa's body. Hours that were spent cutting through the overgrowth, digging a six-foot rectangle in the ground, and carrying a skinless but somehow still rotting corpse out of the house and actually placing it into the dirt.  
It wasn't a pleasant time, and it was made even more unpleasant from the remaining mess that was left where the body had originally been.  
Madoka, Kira, and Kite all stayed inside to try to clean up the mess, and hopefully tidy up the rest of the house, while the remainder of the group stayed outside to give the proper funeral rites (at Minoru's request) and finish burying the body.  
The whole of it took until twilight was settling over the sky. All of them were covered in dirt and grime by the time they were finished, and it was un-doubtable that many of them would've been eager to go and wash off as soon as they could, considering what they had just been handling and burying. But none of the younger bladers dared to try and leave; not while Minoru stood there, wrapped in his own arms and lost in his own state of unreadable emotions.  
Upon seeing his brother's state of distress once more, Gingka kindly gestured for the younger bladers to head inside and let him deal with it. Ren, Shinobu, and Eight all hurried off, albeit reluctantly at first; Gingka watched them go, and waited until he saw the door of the house close behind them before he turned back to the fresh grave before them.  
The two of them stayed like that for a while; silent, with nothing but the crickets and the faint croaks of frogs to accompany them. It wasn't a comforting silence; nor was it an uncomfortable one. It was just... silence. The sort that you don't know how to feel about.  
Gingka knew how to feel about it though; the same way he always felt about the silence nowadays. How he dreaded it, hated it, feared it as much as he feared his own reflection. But he didn't try to break it. He simply sat there, let the chirp-and-croak-filled silence fester and bubble, and waited for Minoru to break it himself. Finally, after an eternity in his own eyes, he did.

"I-I shouldn't have even reacted the way I did..." Minoru said quietly.  
Gingka looked up at him from he sat on the grass.  
He saw Minoru swallow thickly before he spoke again.  
"I a-already knew what... what had happened to him, so... i-it _shouldn't_ have been surprising, but..." A deep breath. "I guess I just... Maybe I just _thought_ that..."

"That it was all a dream?" Gingka asked softly.  
Minoru nodded, and briefly wiped at his eye with his hand. His cheeks were still stained with his tears from earlier.  
"I shouldn't even be crying..." Minoru said as he wiped at the unfallen tears. "After what I _did_ to him, I-I shouldn't even..." Quietly, Minoru shook his head, looking anywhere but at his uncle's grave. "He'd be disappointed... I mean, he was probably already disappointed, anyway, but... He wouldn't want me to _be_ here... Not after knowing that I..."  
Minoru was completely unable to finish his sentence and pressed a dirt-covered hand to his mouth to stifle the quiet sobs as pearly tears slowly started to leak down his face again.  
Gingka felt an inexplicable ache in his chest as he watched his younger brother silently tear himself apart. He might have tried to comfort him if this was anyone else, in any other situation. But it wasn't 'any other situation'. It was one that he himself understood far too well.  
Silently, Gingka looked back at the freshly disturbed mound of dirt in front of them and allowed himself to speak.  
"You said," he began, gently testing the waters, "that you were the one that did... _that_... to him. What did you mean...?"  
It was a long while before Minoru could finally bring himself to answer.  
Gingka tried not to flinch when he heard his voice break.  
"I was fourteen..." Minoru explained. "I'd lived here... my whole life. Uncle Ryuji was the one who took care of me... It was always just the two of us. I never asked about my parents, because I knew I wasn't supposed too. He said that they'd died, or something, and it hurt him to talk about it, so... I didn't. But it was good; being just the two of us... We both took care of the place, and we took care of each other. I mean, we had our falling outs, but..." Minoru paused and seemed to consider his own words for a moment. "Well... Maybe they weren't _just_ 'falling outs', I guess, but... h-he was still good to me. It's not like we didn't have our good times, so... It was good. It was good..."  
It was obvious that Minoru was trying to convince himself.  
Gingka considered asking him more on the subject, just for a split moment, but decided against it. Minoru could talk to him about it if he wanted too. But he still couldn't help noticing how the way that Minoru talked about his uncle was far different from the way _Alcorin_ had talked about him. And neither perspective was giving him too many positive thoughts on the relationship the two of them had.  
"And then..." Minoru continued, his voice beginning to shake more than it had been. "...I, um... I-it was about seven years ago, obviously. I-it wasn't any sort of special day, really... Or at least I don't _think_ , I can't remember, but... I-it was just a normal day, to start out with... We both got up early, and we did our chores, and we had breakfast, and all that. Like we always did. I remember the phone ringing, and then Uncle Ryuji sent me to go upstairs. I-I didn't ask why, because I knew I wasn't supposed too, so..."  
Gingka bit his lip at the words 'wasn't supposed too', but he still said nothing. It wasn't his place to say anything about Minoru and his uncle, especially not while he was recounting the days and moments leading up to his death. He brushed aside his own not-to-fond memories that began resurfacing and kept listening to his brother as he spoke.  
"So I went upstairs," Minoru stated. "And I was going to my room until I realized that... I-I'd forgotten my book downstairs. Reading was a more common hobby of mine when I was alone, and it kept me busy... I-I should've known better than to head back down, I know, but I did anyway. I mean, I didn't _think_ it would cause any harm... It was just me getting a book, so it had to be understandable enough... But I got back downstairs, and I heard my uncle talking..." Minoru paused again and took in a deep breath. "He was talking about _you_."  
Shocked, Gingka immediately looked back up towards Minoru, who refused to meet his eyes.  
"W-well, maybe not just about _you_ , I guess, but... I-I heard him say your name. And, of course, at that point, anybody who was _anybody_ knew who you were... And me and him, we never really talked about current events too much. There was a newspaper lying around sometimes that I would read, and there was the radio, but... That was it. A-and I knew better than to eavesdrop. But I did anyway, and he was just talking about _you_ , and then about _me_ , and..." Minoru paused again and took a moment.

Gingka let him, allowing him his time to process the memories that he had undoubtedly never wanted to remember.  
"And _that_ is the day," Minoru said slowly, "that I learned that I had a brother. And... Something like that; it's not something that's easy to learn after _years_ of being told that you're an only child, and you only have one actual family member left. And he saw me there... and he wasn't happy."  
"What happened...?" Gingka asked carefully, trying to assure that he wasn't stepping on any more sore spots than he already was.  
Minoru swallowed the lump in his throat, took a deep breath, and continued.  
"He yelled at me..." the younger twin explained, voice rigid and stiff. "He told me I was supposed to be in my room and asked what I was doing down there; what I'd heard... A-and, I... I didn't know what to say, because I _know_ what I heard him say and I didn't know what to do, because I had a _brother_ that I never knew about, and _how_ do you handle just _learning_ that?" Minoru strained to calm himself, and then, voice shaking, he went on. "And he kept yelling at me, and I was scared because I didn't want to be in my closet again, but I didn't know what to do... And then... I... I-it was just like... I was _watching_ it happen. I was seeing it, but I wasn't _there_. And I _watched_ as he..." Minoru's voice broke, and he raised his hand up to his mouth again as the tears dripped down his cheeks again. He looked anywhere but Gingka; anywhere but his uncle's grave.  
Gingka felt his own eyes slowly begin to well up with tears, but forced them down as best as he could. Because this was _Minoru's_ time to cry, to mourn, to grieve; not his. But he couldn't help the faint pang of his heartbreaking as Minoru spoke again, wet with tears.  
"He looked _so_ scared..." He said, muffled slightly by his own hand. "And Alcorin just... _threw_ him... _everywhere_. And I couldn't _do_ anything...! And I heard him _talking_... and he was _enjoying_ it, and I couldn't _stop_ him..."  
Yes, that sounded quite familiar. But Gingka pushed back that thought, and looked up at his brother in earnest, watching helplessly as he sobbed into his hand and shook with his own grief. But, finally, he could stand it no longer and reached up to tug on the hem of his brother's shirt to bring him down to his own level.  
Even without an explanation, Minoru understood the message and lowered himself down onto his knees beside his brother. Ignoring any other instincts that his body gave him to not hug him, to _not let him touch him_ , Gingka carefully reached around and brought his brother into a hug, and let him cry into his shoulder. He didn't care about the way that his body screamed at him to _push him away_ ; he didn't care how he felt his own skin prickle at the feeling of Minoru wrapping his own arms around him, just barely suppressing a flinch; this was _Minoru_.  
He _knew_ who this was, and Minoru _needed_ this now, so there's _no_ reason to be afraid.

 _pushhimawaypushhimaway_

It was fine. It was all fine.  
They stayed like that for about a minute before Minoru finally pulled away, wiping at his eyes with the sleeve of his shirt.  
"I-I'm sorry..." He sputtered, "I-I know you don't... don't like being touched, I-I just-"  
"No, it's fine." Gingka reassured him, "Really, it's fine."  
Minoru didn't look convinced, but he didn't say anything further about it. "Sorry..." He apologized again, "I didn't mean to... to break down, it's... It's just hard to remember."  
"I get it," Gingka said with a nod. "I-I know that probably doesn't help any, but I _do_ get it... It's... Not exactly something you just learn to cope with so easily..."  
The constant intruding memories of terrified eyes, shattering glass, and horrifying laughter were enough to prove that.  
"I'm sorry about him." Gingka said, and gestured to the grave beside them, "Your uncle."  
Minoru sniffled softly, finally sparing a glance at the freshly disturbed dirt. The younger twin didn't say anything at first but then turned back to Gingka. "I'm sorry about your dad..." He said.  
Gingka felt another pang in his heart and looked down at the ground in front of them.  
He wondered what sort of funeral they had given Ryo. Especially after the state that may have found him in. He had never contacted anyone back in Koma since then; all of it had hurt too much to even think about doing so. After what he had done, he wondered if anyone would even _want_ to see him back there. There were many things that could be forgiven in Koma Village; murder was certainly not one of them. Even still, he _should_ give Hyoma a call one of these days; apologize for all of his wrongdoings, and accept all the yelling and hate that would undoubtedly come his way. Maybe, after all of this was over, he could find a way to pick up the phone.  
In front of him, he heard Minoru give a small laugh, and looked up at his brother to see him shaking his head.  
"We are _so_ screwed up..." Minoru said, not looking him in the eye.  
Gingka found himself smiling softly at this. "Yeah..." He breathed, "We are."  
The twins once more fell into their own silence and looked practically anywhere but at each other. Gingka looked up at the sky to try to distract himself from the quiet, and gazed at the fading light of the sun, quickly being overshadowed by a dark navy blue and twinkling stars.  
"We should head inside," he said, "it's getting dark out."  
"Yeah." Minoru agreed readily, clearly glad to have a change in the conversation, "Okay."  
Minoru managed to help Gingka stand and steady himself without needing to lay a hand on him, and the two of them headed inside, both of them supporting the other in one way or another.  
After several hours of meticulous cleaning with whatever old materials they managed to find in the house, the place could now be considered... at least partially inhabitable. Probably not for any long term period, but definitely for a few days or even a week, if that's what someone was looking for. Fortunately, the place cleaned up _fairly_ well, and the oil lamps and candles spread around the lower level gave off a good amount of light and warmth was that much welcomed in their current situation. They probably wouldn't ever be able to get the stench of a rotting body out, but masking it with various lamps and questionably scented candles would have to be good enough.

"Oh, there you two are." Madoka said from the dining room table, looking up as Minoru closed the door behind himself and Gingka, "Just in time."  
From the looks of it, they had definitely arrived 'just in time' for something, judging by the way that everyone was gathered around the table and watching intently as Kira worked away on three different holographic screens protruding from a small, metal bracelet that was set on the surface of the table.  
"What are you up too?" Minoru asked as both he and Gingka made their way over to join the rest of the group.  
"Kira's trying to get through to the WBBA while drawing as little attention as possible." Madoka explained, "We figured that the Tokyo WBBA might have all sorts of tracking devices through our own network, considering what happened last time. So we're hoping that we can get in through one of the more obscure lines."

"Which are almost non-existent, mind you." Kira pointed out, never once deviating from his task. "We're lucky there even _is_ any sort of obscure connections in this network; let alone ones that are actually working. I don't doubt that is probably where the Tokyo WBBA has some of their bugs hidden."  
"Comforting..." Ren mumbled and wrapped her jacket further around herself.  
"So... you think that most of them would be in these ones?" Madoka asked.

"Well, probably not _most_ of them, but definitely a few." Kira answered, "If they're as smart as I think they are, they'll have most of them in the public network."  
"But wouldn't that just make them easier to find?" Eight asked, confused.  
"Not necessarily. Bugs and viruses are a lot smarter than they used to be; they can easily disguise themselves as something completely harmless and plant themselves where nobody will even think to look."  
"Plain sight..." Kite said in a moment of realization, and Kira nodded.  
"Exactly." He said.  
"How do you know so much about this stuff?" Shinobu asked.  
"Guess," Kira answered, and said nothing further as he intently fought his way through the connection line.  
Shinobu fell silent, but seemed to content enough with the answer; after all, it didn't exactly take a genius to guess how Kira knew all of this stuff.  
"Got it," Kira claimed abruptly, once more drawing everyone's attention the screens in front of them, which had now been limited down to one once again. The symbol of the WBBA was displayed on the screen, while a 'Please Wait' was settled directly under it.  
"Now what?" Madoka asked, "What do we do?"  
"See if all that hard work pays off." Kira said, leaning back in his chair with his arms crossed, "With _this_ level of technology, we shouldn't have too many problems in getting through to the main connection network. _However_ , if your security has been updated to what it _should_ be, after all the times you've been hacked this summer, then it will actively attempt to destroy any and all threats that it perceives as even _mildly suspicious_ ; which includes us, by the way."  
"Yeah..." Madoka thought aloud, "I don't know if our security is necessarily _that_ advanced, but I'd have to check the security department for that."  
"Well, then you better check when you get back." Kira told her, looking over his shoulder at the brunette, "And if it's not up-to-date, then it _needs_ to be because that will save you _a lot_ of trouble. I'll give you guys credit though; it's a hell of a lot better than the last time I hacked into your system."  
Madoka raised a skeptical eyebrow at this statement and wondered briefly whether or not that was meant to be a compliment.

"Um... Thanks?" She said.  
Kira didn't respond to her confused tone, but that was because the screen had changed into one that Madoka half-recognized as one of the central hubs of the WBBA network; however, this one had a slightly different layout, and was definitely not as welcoming in presence as it usually was.  
 _Well, obviously_ , she thought, _we're basically breaking in_.

"Alright, which computer do we want?" Kira asked, hands ready on the holographic keyboard in front of him, "There's about 15 at the _very least_ , but most of them are public, and I highly doubt they want a bunch of teenagers showing up on their computer screen."  
"Try Tsubasa's personal one," Madoka told him, leaning forward to see the screen better. "There's no guarantee that he's using it, but it's probably our best option."  
Kira began frantically typing away and tapping at the screen, racing through several different windows in record time. "And, praise the lord, it's active." He stated, and then began typing in multiple rows of code into a small, black window. Given a little less than fifteen seconds, Kira broke through its security, and another screen opened.  
They were immediately met with the startled face of Ayano. 'Startled' being a light term, considering that she yelped loudly and reeled back in the wheeled chair she was currently sitting in. She probably would have made a run for it had she not kept her eyes on the screen and recognized the occupants behind it.  
"Oh... _my god_." she seethed briefly, before quickly regaining her composure.  
"Sorry, Ayano!" Madoka apologized, pushing herself up beside Kira a bit so that she was more in frame. "We didn't mean to scare you. We just had to get into Tsubasa's laptop; it's the most private computer we know."  
Ayano nodded. "Fair enough..." she said, brushing a few strands of hair out of her eyes. "I just didn't expect that so suddenly, is all..."  
"Yeah, well, my specialty _is_ being subtle," Kira said sarcastically.  
Ayano somehow managed to politely ignore him with nothing more than a glance in his direction before she looked back at Madoka.  
"So, what do you need?" Ayano asked, bringing her voice down into a cautious whisper. "Do you want me to get Tsubasa for you? He's been waiting for you to try and get in contact with him all night."  
"Please." Madoka agreed. Ayano didn't waste any time in paging the Director down to the thirty-fifth floor...

* * *

Ayano's page to Tsubasa was met with an immediate reaction from the Director. As much as he knew he should at least _try_ and appear casual, to not bring any suspicion from anyone that something might be up, he was hardly able to control himself as he hurried down to the 35th floor, Maru rushing behind him to keep up.  
After about 24 hours of no sleep and the constant anxious episodes that something could happen at any moment, Tsubasa was nearly beyond the point of pretending that everything was okay. After everything with Alcorin, and Gingka, and Zyro, and the WBBA, he was almost convinced that nothing could ever actually be okay. Not in their lives, anyway. How could it ever really be okay after everything that had gone down since they were just children?  
So he stopped trying to pretend and hurried down the floors with Maru in a hopeful descent. Wherever Madoka and the others were, they must be okay.  
It was hardly ten minutes before he got to the storage room on the 35th floor. It definitely wasn't the most discreet place to be hatching a plot against the Japanese government (since it _was_ a storage room), but, thankfully, this one was rarely occupied. However, that probably _would make_ it seem even _more_ suspicious...  
Whatever the consequences, Tsubasa wasn't in the mood to care at the moment. He raced into the compacted room to find Ayano seated at a small work desk, his laptop - which he had lent to her previously that morning - open in front of her. The second the green-haired women saw him slam through the storage room door with Maru in tow, she practically leaped out of the chair to make way for him. Tsubasa couldn't remember a time when he had sat down faster.  
"Holy crap, Tsubasa!" Madoka exclaimed from the other end of the screen, taken aback by his sudden entrance. The sight of her on the other side of the screen, along with Kira, Ren, Shinobu, and most of the others who were able to fit into frame, was enough to calm him from his hopeful high of adrenaline and made him feel more at ease than he had in the past day.

"Sorry..." The silverette apologized as he got himself settled in front of the computer. "Been a little on edge..."  
"Yeah, we can see that..." Madoka agreed, worry evident in her face, "Jesus, you look like hell... You really _haven't_ slept since we left, have you?"  
"Well... no," Tsubasa admitted, slightly embarrassed. He hadn't exactly been looking in a mirror the past few hours, but he didn't doubt that he looked like hell.  
"Madoka!" Maru exclaimed happily from beside the silverette, standing up on her tip-toes so that her teacher could get a better view of her.  
"Maru!" Madoka replied affectionally, the immediate warmth that came to her face a sight to see, "How are you? Have you been doing okay?"  
"I'm fine!" Maru said, "I can't say the same for Tsubasa, though..." The pinkette sent the Director a slightly pointed look, though it was clear about the concern that she held towards him.  
Tsubasa just sweat-dropped, avoiding eye contact. "Yeah, well..."  
"Has there been anything else from the Tokyo WBBA?" Madoka asked. Tsubasa sighed.  
"Just a phone call as soon as you guys left yesterday." He said. " Other than that... nothing. Which is what worries me, to be honest. I haven't slept in a day; I can hardly afford to at this point... I don't know what they're planning, but I _do_ know that Hideyoshi is _pissed_."  
"That's gonna end well..." Madoka breathed.  
"I know..." Tsubasa said, leaning back in his chair. "It's not exactly the most ideal situation, to say the least... I trust you all found somewhere safe?"  
"For now." Madoka shrugged her shoulder. "The smell isn't exactly pleasant and there's no electricity, but it's _somewhere_ , at least."  
"Good to hear..."

"Anyway... Other than the no sleep and quiet, how is everything over there?"  
"As good as it can get." Tsubasa answered, "Ayano and I have decided that it's best to keep all of... _this_... strictly between us, for as long as we can help it. Which isn't exactly easy, since we've been working with the Management team on dealing with the hospital, and, needless to say, neither of them are too happy about a psychiatric patient just suddenly disappearing."  
He heard a mumbled 'sorry' from somewhere offscreen - undoubtedly from Gingka. Tsubasa gave a brief smile at that. "Other than that, I've been explaining things as best as I can to Benkei, and we've been working on finding Sichiro... Which is a dead end at this point. We've tried everything we can think of, but there's no way we can track him."  
"So he's just... gone?" Madoka asked.  
"Yeah. If he's telling the truth, then chances are, we may never hear from him again..."  
Ayano couldn't suppress the need to shift her position at those words and lifted her hand to her mouth to anxiously bite at her thumbnail. Tsubasa sent her a brief, worried glance before looking back to his friends.  
"You better hurry up," Kira said, coming a little further onscreen, "I can't guarantee how much longer we have before the system forcibly kicks us out."  
"Okay..." Madoka said with a nod, "We'll try you again later, okay?"  
"Yeah..." Tsubasa agreed, "Be careful."  
"You too." It didn't take long for Kira to reach over and have them disappear from the screen.  
After that, Tsubasa slowly leaned back in his chair again, and let out a heavy, weary sigh. Maru looked at him worriedly, her mouth pressed into a thin line. He noticed this and gave her a small smile for reassurance.  
"I'm okay, Maru." He said. "Don't worry." He knew that sort of reassurance was pointless, though. Maru clearly didn't believe him.  
The silverette turned back to face Ayano, who stood biting at her thumbnail. "Go find the Chief of Management, would you? I have a few things I need to talk to him about, regarding the hospital's demands for payment. Tell him I'll meet him in my office."  
"Of course..." With that, Ayano left the storage room.  
Tsubasa wasn't too far behind her, Maru following at his heels...

* * *

Having Kira cut off the call with Tsubasa almost felt like having a limb cut off. At least, it did for Madoka. After everything that had gone down in a matter of two days and suddenly being whisked away into the rural country at a moment's notice, having contact with someone from home (despite only being away for about twenty-four hours) was comforting beyond belief. So suddenly being cut off from that short-lived comfort hit her harder than it was probably supposed too. And she could see from the mild distress of some of the others' faces that she wasn't the only one wishing that they could've talked for longer.  
The silence that came with the cut off of the call was short-lived since Minoru was quick to break through it.  
"Okay kids, come help me find some blankets." He said and beckoned the younger bladers to follow him upstairs. Eager for something to do - anything to distract them - the children readily followed the younger Hagane twin up the stairs.  
Madoka watched them go, her eyes trailing after them until Kite disappeared upstairs and their talk could just barely be heard from the second floor. Only then did she let out a heavy sigh and slump in the chair she was in.  
Gingka looked back at her, eyebrows knitted together in concern.  
"You okay?" He asked softly.  
"Yeah." She said, though none too convincingly, "I just... I'm just tried."  
"'Just'?"  
Madoka sighed through her nose and looked up at the redhead sitting a few feet from her.  
"You know what I mean..." She said.  
Gingka looked at her for another moment before nodding and looking down to his lap.  
"Yeah..." He responded, "I know what you mean..."  
Madoka thought about leaving it at that; with nothing but the silence and silent understanding that she hoped she wasn't misinterpreting. But after so long of keeping everything to herself, and having no one to ever truly confide in the hopes of appearing strong for the younger bladers, she knew that that was impossible.  
"I just..." She started, faltering for a split moment. Gingka looked back up at her, but she couldn't bring herself to look at him. And she really couldn't say _why_... "I _really_ thought that this was all over..." She said, shaking her head as she looked down at the scratched wood of the table, "... I thought that you know, _maybe_ things can _actually_ go back to the way they were. That, maybe, we could just _live_ our lives instead of trying to survive day to day and trying to save the world, like we _always_ do! And now..." Madoka's voice trailed off.  
She really didn't want to have to say it again... That Zyro was gone; kidnapped by the Japanese government and taken to God-knows-where to have Gods-knows-what done to him. Tears prickled at the edges of her eyes from her frustration, and she briefly wiped at them before they could fall.  
"Why is it _always_ us?" Madoka asked, her voice cracking in her own frustration. "Every time something bad happens, it's always _us_ who have to do something about it. Why do _we_ always have to be ones to fix things?"  
Gingka shook his head slowly; Madoka knew he didn't have an answer.  
"I don't know..." Gingka said in affirmation. "The universe really must hate us or something."  
Madoka laughed softly at that. Gingka smiled at her in turn, glad to hear the sound of her enjoying herself, even for just a split moment.  
"I just want to go home..." Madoka said, slouching down a little further into her chair. "I want to go home to Maru, and the B-Pit, and sleep in my own bed without having to wonder if we're going to have to be sent packing tomorrow... I just want it all to _stop_..."  
"It will," Gingka said softly. "Maybe not tomorrow, but... eventually. I-I know that isn't too comforting since we don't even know _how_ we're going to get Zyro back, but... It will. Okay?"  
Sniffling softly, Madoka nodded her head and wiped away at the few tears that trailed down her cheeks.  
"You know, I don't get it..." She said after a moment.  
"What?"  
"How you can be... so _positive_ sometimes." Madoka said, looking towards the redhead across from her, "I mean, even _you_ know that things could turn out badly, but... You still manage to see the bright side of things... _How_ do you do that? After all that's happened to all of us, to _you_? How do you do it...?"  
At that, Gingka was left lost for words, adverting his eyes to look at the table. He looked... lost. Maybe bringing up the things he had gone through hadn't been the best idea.

Madoka was about to dismiss her own question when Gingka finally looked up and shrugged his shoulders, a weak smile on his face.

"I don't know." He said honestly. "Sometimes even I wonder how I make it through the day at this point..." Alarmed, Madoka's eyes snapped back up to the redhead, but he just kept smiling at her. "I mean, it's not exactly like the days are always bearable." He continued. "People are always looking at me when I'm in the common room like I shouldn't be there. And everyone tip-toes around me like I'm going to snap at a moment's notice. I mean, it's not like they don't have a reason too - PTSD patient and all, tendency to lash out, a questionable sense of reality... But I always just kept thinking; 'I'm going to get better, and I'm going to get out of here, and I won't have to live with them looking at me like that every day'. And I think; 'if I learn how to get around by myself again, maybe I can be okay'... And maybe I'm just kidding myself, but I figure that it's worth a shot, even if I'm never allowed in public society ever again."  
"Gingka..." Madoka said softly, straightening up in her seat, "Don't say that... You're _going_ to get out of the hospital. Yeah, things aren't exactly great over there right now, but... You'll get better. It'll be okay! When we get back, you can keep doing your therapy... and you'll be discharged in no time. You'll see!"  
Gingka's smile brightened just a little at that, and Madoka found herself smiling too. However, the brightness didn't stay for very long, and she watched as Gingka leaned sideways against the back of the chair, a frown replacing the smile that had originally been on his face.  
"You know..." He started, voice small and far different from what had just been talking to her with, "When Minoru came into my room yesterday and told me and Kira about what had happened to Zyro... And how you guys were going to need to leave, and probably take me with you... I just sat there, and I thought: 'No. I don't want to go... I just want to stay here, and rest, and not have to worry about this sort of stuff anymore. I'm _done_ '."  
Madoka's eyes widened at this, and she watched as the tears trickled down from the corners of his eyes. He did nothing to stop them, refusing to look at her as he went on.  
"I mean, I was worried about him. _Of course_ I was. He's a great kid, and I never wanted to see anything bad happen to him, _ever_... I had once dedicated my life to making sure that nothing _ever would_... But in that moment, I just _didn't_ care... I just wanted it all to stop. I didn't want to have to worry about this... and I knew that, ultimately, I had a choice to come with you guys or stay at the hospital... I _knew_ , that I _could_ stay in Meta Bey if I wanted too. And, despite just wanting to lay down, I came anyway. I-I don't regret coming along or anything, believe me, because we do need to get Zyro back, and I'd do almost anything for that kid, but..." Gingka paused in his soft rant, seeming to contemplate on whether or not he should actually say what he needed to say.  
Madoka waited patiently and didn't pressure him to continue.  
Finally, Gingka did. "The truth is..." Gingka breathed out, "I don't even think I actually _came here_ for _him_... I just wanted to get out of that damn hospital... and I _hate_ myself for it."

Madoka didn't get the chance to say anything else to him as Minoru and the younger bladers came clambering back down the stairs, loads of blankets and pillows stuffed into their arms from the upstairs closet.  
Gingka quickly made an effort to wipe away the tears on his face and sit up straight as his brother entered the room, followed closely by the rest of the younger bladers.  
"Alright, so I'm pretty sure we got all of the ones that aren't moldy," Minoru stated, "but there's still a chance that a few of you are going to have to share."  
Madoka quietly told Gingka to stay where he was when he looked as though he were about to stand, and got up herself to go help sort out the blanket situation with the rest of the younger bladers.  
Gingka briefly thought about protesting, but soon decided against it. It was probably for the best, anyway...  
So he watched as she stood up and went to help with the blankets, his eyes following her for only a moment as she got tangled up in the small swarm that the children were making. It was almost a little comical, as they sorted through the multi-colored blankets, faces slightly scrunched from the faint moldy smell they gave off and going through every inch of them to see if they could find any hidden moldy spots.  
It was enough to make him smile.  
It was only when he started to turn to look away from them did he catch Minoru looking at him. The small smile that had originally graced his brother's face had now been replaced by a soft frown, the knowing worry in his eyes all the proof that Gingka needed to know that Minoru knew that he wasn't okay. Even if it wasn't in the exact words he had used, he still _knew_. They were twins, after all... He supposed that was what twins were for.  
Their eye contact was only held for a few brief moments before Madoka called Minoru's attention back to sorting out the sheets they had gathered. Gingka took to silently watching as they went about their business, leaning into the back of the chair in exhaustion with a quiet huff.  
As important as it was to get makeshift beds set out to at least make them comfortable, protect them from the chill, he felt that they may all know that it was pointless. Or at least, to him it was. And he didn't doubt that Minoru felt at least partially the same way as well. It didn't matter how muffled the stench of a rotten corpse was or how tightly they bundled themselves up - neither of them was getting any sleep that night.


	11. Chapter 10 - Your Deepest Fear

Chapter 10 - Your Deepest Fear

* * *

The first two days were anything but pleasant.  
The first day had revolved around showing him parts of the facility, making him uncomfortable as possible (even if that wasn't their end goal), introducing him to clone that he had never known existed, and... he preferred not to think about the rest of the day past that. The second day had come all too soon from the time when they had thrown him back in his room after Hideyoshi had become far too annoyed and seemed too disappointed to put up with him.  
The lights had suddenly flickered back to life in his room, nearly blinding him and causing him to curl up tighter into himself in the corner of the bed.  
It was needless to say that he hadn't gotten any sleep.  
He had desperately tried to wipe away the evidence of the tears on his face, to hide the blatant effects of the panic attack that had hit him for at least an hour that night before anybody came into the room.  
He knew there were probably cameras that had caught the whole thing anyway, but he cared less about a security team seeing him than he did about Hideyoshi or Naomi or _any of the rest of them_ seeing him. Despite his attempts, though, it was obvious, from his reflection in various surfaces, that he still looked like a mess.  
Only three people came to get him from his room this time, all of them being from the group of four that had come to escort him out yesterday. Neither Hideyoshi nor Naomi was anywhere to be seen with them, which relieved him beyond all belief.  
The woman who had been there the day before leading him along while the other two men trailed behind them. She gave a brief explanation of the day ahead, which was filled with various and vaguely described 'tests' and 'examinations'. As grateful as he was for getting an overview, the contents of the day were enough to concern him.  
'Tests' and 'examinations' could mean anything; that also meant they could mean bad things.  
While they had made their way through the various corridors, Zyro silently prayed that they wouldn't be as bad as his mind was imagining they would be. And, thankfully, they were tamer than what he had been fearing.  
In fact, most of the day was almost like a doctor's appointment. They took him into several different rooms, had various doctors check his reflexes, his breathing, his eyesight. They checked his pupils, his ears, his throat, how long he could hold his breath for, and the list went on. And throughout the whole of it, Zyro stayed still, let them do whatever they had to do, and hardly said a word unless they asked him some sort of question, which didn't happen very often. In the perspective of the outward eye, they weren't anything to get worked up over. Zyro might even go as far as to say that they were _polite_ , asking for his permission to touch him at various times and handling him - _handling_ him - with care. There was no sharp remarks, no yelling, no contact that he didn't permit.  
But all the same, he was scared. He was scared and disgusted, and he didn't _want_ them to touch him, but he let them anyway because he remembered what Kuro had told him the day before. Play along, and don't fight them. As long as he did that, then there was a sure chance that he could possibly get out of here, as long as he cooperated and did as he was expected and told too. He kept those words in mind throughout the whole day, and did his best not to flinch from he was poked or prodded; did his best not to claw at his own skin after they brought him out of the rooms and took him to another one. He just had to behave... If he could that, then everything would be fine. But none of that took away the cold fear that prickled on his skin, the sick feeling in his gut that wasn't helped by how little he ate. That was more on him than it was on them, in all honesty.  
The tray of food that was pushed through a slot in the door actually provided a fair amount of food for a place that seemed so cruel and prison-like, and none of it even looked weird. It all looked like normal food, complete with a juice box, fresh fruit, and vegetables, and plenty of grains.  
But as hungry as Zyro often found himself, he hardly any more than a few bites, if anything at all. And as much as his stomach ached and cried at him in protest, he still couldn't bring himself to eat the food that he was given. He just... couldn't. Not here. And although they definitely didn't seem pleased by this, no one came to scold him about it.  
They simply brought him his food, and then took whatever was left on the tray after about an hour, three times a day, and presumably right on schedule.  
There was no clock in his room - he could never tell what time it was. The only clear indication was when the lights turned off at night, and then turned off again in the morning. And he wasn't prepared on the second day when the lights turned off again, leaving him in total darkness and with hardly a hope of his eyes adjusting without a sliver of light to go off of.  
So all he did was curl up in the corner where the bed met the wall, wrapped his arms around his legs, and sit there for hours on end, always sure that the walls had contracted.  
Always sure that it was harder to breathe now than it was five minutes ago.  
Always sure that there was something crawling on his skin, pulling at his clothes, whispering in his ear through the darkness where everything was left up to his own terrifying imagination.  
He didn't sleep that night, either...

* * *

Morning came at a much slower pace than Zyro would've preferred. He spent the whole night awake, crying even after he had run out of tears to shed, waiting in a terrified silence for the constricting darkness to consume him until there was nothing left. He was a little disappointed when the lights finally came on and he realized that it hadn't.  
Once more, Zyro fought to wipe away the tear tracks leftover from the night, rubbing until his skin was raw and he was sure to have a scab or a few around his eyes.  
They would still be able to tell, he was sure of it; but the least he could do was spare himself part of his dignity. He wasn't going to break down while anyone else was in the room - not as long as he could help it.  
Before long, a silver tray was slid through the slot in the bottom of the door, bearing the food that he was expected to eat.  
Shaking with shivers from the night before, Zyro got off of the bed and walked over to the door, and sat down on the floor with the tray in front of him.  
On it was a bowl of hot oatmeal, sprinkled with what looked like cinnamon. Next to it was a little carton of orange juice, and a plate with toast and cut up strawberries and blueberries. A normal-looking breakfast.  
So normal.  
Zyro felt his stomach grumble hungrily at him, and he sighed through his nose, biting his tongue as he cursed it silently. He hated the thought of eating food in his place... Nevertheless, he took the spoon from the side of the tray and scooped up a reasonable spoonful of oatmeal.  
It wasn't actually _bad_ , he supposed. He just didn't really taste it.  
It only took about two more spoons of it before he knew that he couldn't eat another bite. As much as they were probably displeased by how little he was eating, they would probably be only more displeased if he vomited all over the floor. He figured he should refrain from that.  
His stomach protested to him in more ways than one as he stood from his sitting position, taking nothing by a half of a strawberry and a couple of blueberries with him before he went back to the bed. He sat with his back to the wall, supported by the single down pillow behind him.  
He did nothing as he sat there for a next hour, watching the tray of food on the opposite side of the room slowly go cold as he ate the few berries that he had taken. It wasn't much longer before he saw a pair of hands reach through the slot in the door (albeit with some difficulty), and pull the tray back through, taking back everything he had left untouched.  
No one said anything about that to him, even when they once more came for him. When they did, he was unfortunate to find that Naomi was coming along this time, but he followed along anyway, attempting to stay as far away from her as he could in the close proximity that they were forced to share.  
Naomi said nothing to him as she led him through the halls; although Zyro hated the uncomfortable silence, a part of him was grateful for that. He didn't really want to hear anything she had to say.  
Strangely enough, however, Naomi only went as far as one of the elevators, stopping in her tracks as she came to it and turning to him.  
Zyro tried not to flinch under her cold gaze.  
"You'll go into the elevator alone." Naomi instructed, "And you'll press the button for the 7th floor, directly below us. The Director will be there waiting for you. Understood?"  
Zyro shakily nodded his head, averting his gaze away from her the first chance he got. But although he had agreed, he really didn't understand _anything_ she had just said.  
Well, at least he didn't understand the _context_ of it...  
She had told him to go into it alone.  
 _Alone_.  
By himself.  
Considering how he was usually escorted by no less the three - for lack of a better term - guards to anywhere he went at all times, the idea that they were just going to let him take an elevator alone was... disconcerting.  
He had been here for, what, three days? How did they even know they could trust him with that?

 _Because you have nowhere to run_ The voice in the back of his head stated.

 _and they_ know _that_

 _And so do you_

Zyro really hated how right it was...  
Shaking with anticipation, Zyro made his way to the elevator as the doors opened, and stepped inside the small compartment before turning back to look out the doors.  
Naomi stood there, watching him with eyes so cold there was no way they could be human.  
But Zyro just pressed the '7' on the panel and watched as the doors closed. Being away from all of their prying eyes didn't make him feel any better, and not just because he knew that there were probably cameras in there.  
Zyro had never liked elevators. Being claustrophobic as he was, it was understandable. He had never liked any form of small space, and he disliked it, even more, when he couldn't see anything.  
You would probably think that not being able to see anything would make it better for some people, but it did the exact opposite for Zyro. It made everything seem smaller to him because he couldn't _see_ where everything was. He couldn't _see_ that the wall might be 2 meters away rather than 3 inches in front of him, which was why he had been subject to using a nightlight or having a window open, or his door cracked open a bit so that the light from the hall could creep in.  
The night in his closet when he was 6 had been bad enough; locked in a small, crowded space with no conceivable way to get out, no light to show him where everything was and leaving his overactive imagination to everything.  
In short, he had a reason to dislike elevators.  
He _would_ take them when necessary, but they still bothered him - the only solace that he took whenever he got in one was that the doors would eventually open again in a wider space, and everything would be alright. So he simply allowed himself to breathe, reassured by the fact that, in a few short moments, the doors would open and he'd be out.  
Of course, he wouldn't exactly be greeted by the most desirable of people, but at the moment that didn't matter too much to him. He would just be out of this cramped space, and that was all he wanted.  
So when Zyro felt the elevator lurch to a violent stop, the screeching of metal on metal outside loud in his ears and a distinct 'banging' sound making his heart nearly stop in his chest, he couldn't control the instant dread that struck itself into his body as he fell back into the metal wall of the elevator. The lights on the ceiling just barely flickered for a brief moment but steadying themselves again, and leaving Zyro frozen against the wall as he felt the carriage rock in place.

 _No_

 _No, no, no, no, no_

 _this couldn't be happening it can'tbehappeningno_

Zyro briefly shut his eyes and tried desperately to shut out his overactive thoughts, tried to calm his now heavy breathing, tried to settle the nerves that automatically kicked into overdrive.

 _It's okay... You'll be fine_

 **No, no, no-**

 _They'll get the elevator working again soon... They've got too_

 **someone help**

 _Someone will get it working again... It'll all be okay_

He kept telling himself all of that. He kept repeating over and over to himself, even as he became dizzy from his heavy breaths and felt nausea rise up in his stomach and shivered uncontrollably.

 _See? It's not that small of a space... it'll be okay_

 **get me out of here**

 _The walls aren't closing in on you... They're staying where they are_

 **They're gonna crush me, they're gonna crush me**

 _The ceiling is high, you can still stand up... Everything is where it should be... You're going to be okay_

And then the lights went out...

* * *

Waking up in Minoru's childhood home definitely wasn't the most pleasant thing in the world. Although it was still standing and seemingly well structured, it was drafty and made sleeping on the floor the equivalent on sleeping on a frozen lake - minus the possibility of the ground falling out beneath them.  
However, the way the floorboards creaked in some places was a little unsettling... The dust that covered almost every inch of the place was an issue in itself, making it nearly impossible to breathe on the pillows and the blankets that had been loaned to them. But at the least, the faint stench of mothballs and mold was more soothing than the permeating odor of a rotten corpse. However, not many of them could say that they had gotten a good night's worth of sleep though; the house made sure of that.  
The kids were all still asleep (or at least trying to sleep) when Madoka woke up the next morning; it was still dark outside, and it took about a minute of her eyes adjusting for her to see the watch that she wore on her wrist.  
5:38  
Earlier than she was usually comfortable with; however, she knew that she wasn't going to be able to get any more sleep than she had already had, so she didn't even bother with laying back down.  
Instead, she quietly stood up from her place on the floor and tip-toed around the younger bladers who were still asleep. She took a moment to just look at them, spread out around the living room, huddled up among one another.  
The Unabara brothers were curled up together in an armchair in the corner, a large blanket draped over them both, and Kite sitting in what had to be a less comfortable position than Eight was in.  
Ren and Shinobu had somehow managed to huddle up during the night, covered by both of their blankets in an attempt to keep out the cold. And Kira seemed to have found his way under the coffee table... How he managed that, Madoka had no idea, but she stifled a small laugh in order to spare the children their sleep.  
Everyone was there, except for Gingka and Minoru.  
That surprised her; for as long as she had known Gingka, he was never up this early. He had always been more of a 'sleep-in no matter what day of the week it is' kind of person.  
Then again, that _had_ been the case back when they were still teenagers; back when she had still known him. Now, after all of this time, there wasn't a lot that she was sure about when it came to him anymore.  
Turning away from the living room, Madoka followed the gentle glow of candles and the sound of soft murmuring from the kitchen; hushed voices trying their best not to make any noise that would wake up the rest of the group in the next room. In the kitchen, lit with several oil lamps and little candles spread out across the counter, she found the twins.  
Gingka was standing at the small island in the middle of the kitchen, watching as Minoru kneeled on the kitchen counter alongside some questionable masses of... food... with an entire arm buried into the cabinet, searching around for something.  
"What are you two doing?" Madoka asked in a hushed tone, but the skepticism was still clear in her voice.  
"Minoru's looking for the basement key," Gingka responded.  
"Why? What's in the basement?" Madoka asked.  
"If I remember correctly?" Minoru started, "Some non-perishable food that we might be able to eat. Unlike everything else in these cupboards..."  
Madoka cast another glance at the several different items placed on the counter from the cupboard, and visibly scrunched her face at the thought.  
"Ew..." She said quietly.  
"There it is!" Minoru said triumphantly, and finally pulled his arm (now covered with dust) out of the cupboard, a small brass key in hand. He then climbed down off the counter and made for a door at the opposite end of the room.  
"How much food do you think is down there?" Madoka asked, following the shorter man to the door.  
"Suggesting that nothing serious has happened down there, enough to sustain us for as long as we're here," Minoru said, unlocking the basement door and opening it on creaking hinges to reveal a dark stairway.  
"Pleasant..." Gingka muttered softly to himself.  
"Yeah, it's pretty great." Minoru conceded sarcastically, then turned to look at Madoka, "Would you mind coming down with me, I could use some help."  
"Yeah, of course." Madoka agreed and followed Minoru down the dark steps and into the basement.

The darkness of the basement was almost overwhelming and far more unsettling than the darkness of her own crawlspace back home. Though maybe it was just whose house this was, and what sort of things had happened in it, that it made it all the more uncomfortable. Judging from Minoru's shallow breathing in front of her, Madoka could only guess that he felt the same way.  
If it wasn't for the light of the door above, she would never have known where the stairs ended, and she could only feel a sudden onslaught of relief when Minoru pulled on a string that hung from the ceiling and switched on a series of various light bulbs scattered throughout the basement.  
"Well I'll be damned, they do still work..." Minoru said through his own sigh of relief. "Thank the lord..."  
The basement, thankfully, seemed to still be fully intact, even after years of abandonment. The cobwebs and dust made everything almost impossible to identify, but, like the rest of the house, it was in surprisingly good shape. And there was indeed a bunch of canned food stocked on the shelves - though 'a bunch' would be a bit of an understatement.  
"Were you guys, like, _preparing_ for something, or...?" Madoka asked, staring around in awe at the shelves upon shelves of stocked up food in the basement that seemed to be larger than the actual house itself.  
"Not that I _know_ of..." Minoru asked, briefly hugging himself as he looked around as well. "But, then my uncle never really told me much... Though I couldn't help but think, sometimes, that he might have been afraid of something."  
"Like what?"  
"I don't know..." Minoru shrugged his shoulders. "I never really knew him that well."  
And so the two of them got to work, clearing multiple layers of dust away from the shelves and their contents, finding old boxes to put them in, and organizing them as best as they could. When they got one filled to as much as it could hold, Minoru brought it over to the stairs and guided it up the thin passageway to where Gingka was at the top of the stairs, where he would take them and bring them into the kitchen. Most of their work was done in silence, and neither of them was quite comfortable with it. There were snippets of conversation here and there, but it never lasted long enough to clear the air.  
Madoka kept her eyes on Minoru, watching him as he moved, stiff and rigid, shoulders tense and his eyebrows brought together in a look of discomfort. Clearly, something was bothering him, and it didn't take too much to guess what that might be.

"Are you okay?" She asked when he came back from guiding another box up the stairs.  
"Yeah, I'm fine." The blue-haired man said dismissively.  
"Really? Because you definitely don't _look_ it." Madoka pushed, watching Minoru with earnest as he paused, hand on one the shelves in front of him. He looked... lost. Similar to how Gingka looked the night before.  
"It's just this house..." Minoru said quietly, shaking his head a bit. "It's no big deal."  
Madoka tilted her head to the side a bit and watched him again. She didn't know Minoru very well, but she knew he was lying.  
Coming back to your childhood home after years of being completely dissociated from the world was not just something you shook off.  
"It's just..." Minoru started after several moments of silence. "... I never thought I'd come back here. I never thought I'd have too... When we first got here, I thought that maybe..." He shrugged his shoulders, voice trailing off, unable to find the right words.  
"That everything that had happened... didn't actually happen?" Madoka questioned, trying to fill in the blanks.  
"Something like that, yeah..." Madoka nodded.  
"I get it... Maybe not very well, but I get it." She said. "It was the same with me after my dad passed away... I wasn't really sure what to do after the funeral. I mean, everything he had ever had was left to me, and obviously, I still had a place to go back to, but... I didn't feel comfortable going back to the B-Pit that day... So I went back to the house we used to live in, out in the country, with my mom. She died when I was just little... I hadn't been there in _years_ , and my aunt owned it by that point; she said I could always come back to visit whenever I wanted, so I decided that that day, I would. And when I went back there, I just stood in the driveway, and I thought... 'What if it didn't _actually happen_ '? What if my mother didn't actually die, and she was waiting in there for me? I-I knew it was stupid, but... I wanted to believe it was true. I thought that, if I dad couldn't be there anymore, then maybe my mom _could_ be. And for a second, I did actually believe that she might be in there, waiting. But she wasn't... I guess it's kinda silly to say I was disappointed, but..." she shrugged her shoulders. "You know."  
Minoru nodded his head, and briefly wiped at his eyes.  
"I'm sorry," He said, "about your mom."  
"It's okay." Madoka waved her hand dismissively, shaking her head, "It was years ago - she was sick, and there wasn't anything we could do; simple as that. I've gotten over it."  
"No, you haven't..." Minoru said softly, and Madoka looked back at him again. Minoru held her gaze for only a moment and muttered a small 'sorry' as he looked away.  
The silence rested for only a moment before Madoka spoke again.  
"You know, I saw the two of you last night," She said, "You and Gingka when you were talking out there."  
That got Minoru to look back her slowly, his expression hard to read.  
"I didn't hear too much. Or anything, really, you guys were too far away, and quiet... But I could tell that you were upset. I mean, obviously, you would be, but..."  
Slowly, Minoru nodded his head. "No, I get it." He said.  
"No, I mean-" Madoka started, and then stopped for a moment. She was silent before speaking again. "You were crying." She said. "And Gingka hugged you... Which was a surprise, considering he doesn't touch _anyone_ , so-"  
"Trust me, I didn't expect it either," Minoru said, wiping a little at his eyes. "I went with it anyway, and he said it was fine, but... he wasn't comfortable. He couldn't have been."  
Madoka nodded, falling silent, before speaking again.  
"You're the only one he seems to say anything too anymore." She pointed out. "About _anything_. I've asked Zyro and the others before when they've gone to see him, and he talks to them, but not about _himself_. _Never_ about himself. He won't talk to _anyone_ about what happened to him when he was... _there_."  
She saw Minoru twitch slightly at the reminder of that place.  
"I've even sat there sometimes with him, during his therapy sessions, but he doesn't say anything. He just sits there... We've tried to talk to him about it, but he _hates_ doing that, and half of the stuff the doctors tell us don't even make _sense_ , and I just _want_ to understand so we can _help_ him... And I don't even know if he _does_ talk to you or not, but you seem like the most likely person that he would actually say anything too."  
"Why would you think that?"  
"Because you can relate."  
That left Minoru silent.

Madoka watched him, rigid as ever, uncertain, even scared, and wondered if she had gone too far. She didn't know Minoru that well, but it wasn't too hard to guess where he could draw the line. He had been stuck with Alcorin longer than any of them had been, and had he gotten the worst from it. She was about to speak again before Minoru finally said something.  
"He doesn't talk to me." Minoru said, looking up at her again, "Not much, anyway. I've gone to visit him a lot, and we don't really talk about what we went through when we were there. I tried to ask him about it before, but he shut me down. So I figured I should wait until he was ready..."  
"And?" Madoka asked gently, "Did he talk to you?"  
"Not exactly..." Minoru answered. "He would never just bring it up, and he would never say that he wanted to talk. I've seen _a lot_ when I've gone there, and it's _never_ pretty."  
"Like what?"  
Minoru shook his head. "He made me promise not to tell you." He said. "He doesn't want you to think less of him."  
"But why?" Madoka asked, confused. "He _knows_ he can trust us, he can tell us those things, we're his friends!"  
"And he _does_ know that." Minoru reassured her, "I think he's just in the mindset that if you know about those things, you'll see him as crazy no matter how much you care. And I think we both know for a fact that he would _never_ want that."  
Inside, Madoka felt her heart break just a little more.  
How could Gingka think that they would see him as crazy if they knew what he was afraid of? About what he went through? Did he really think that little of them...?

"Are... Are you _sure_ you can't tell us anything?" It only took the small crack in her voice for her to realize that she was crying.  
Minoru shook his head apologetically. "I'm sorry..." He said. "I know you care about him, and you want to help, but I can't say anything. I promised him I wouldn't."  
Gasping lightly, Madoka nodded and wiped the tears from her cheeks as best as she could.  
"O-okay." She agreed. "That's fine, I get that... You're a good brother, you know?"  
That seemed to surprise the younger twin, his eyes going wide, flushing just a little at the ears.  
"Uh, thanks..." He said a little awkwardly, and Madoka breathed out a soft laugh at that.  
"Um... We... We should get the rest of these boxes up there." Madoka suggested, and Minoru nodded in agreement.  
The quiet that surrounded them as they packed the rest of the boxes with cans wasn't a comfortable one. Not in the least. But they just moved, side by side, working without a word.  
Just quiet.

"You know, there's a reason he keeps facing that mirror away from him all the time." The sound of Minoru speaking almost made Madoka jump, but she refrained from it and looked at him in confusion.  
"Wha-what?" She asked.  
"That mirror in his room at the hospital." Minoru clarified. "The one that sits across from him on the dresser. They have it there in most patients rooms - especially patients prone to violence or suicidal tendencies so that the staff can see what they're doing without having to go in the room... There's a reason he keeps facing it away from him."  
"What is it?" Madoka asked, lowering her voice to the level that Minoru's was at, not knowing if Gingka could hear them at the top of the stairs or not.  
Minoru was silent for a moment, hesitant.  
Madoka almost thought he wasn't going to answer.  
"I went there once, to pay him a visit," he said, "and one of the nurses seemed to be arguing with him about that mirror, saying that they needed to keep it facing him for safety purposes. I didn't want to interrupt, so I just stood outside the door and I listened. She scolded him, and he tried to tell her that he didn't like the mirror facing him. And he sounded... scared. But not of _her_ , definitely not. He was scared of something else, but he wouldn't say what it was, even when she asked him... She came out of the room after she finished talking to him, and I went in, and he looked..." Minoru's face trailed off for a moment, and the ghost of something deeply haunted passed over his eyes.  
Madoka moved a little closer.  
"What?" she asked, pressing him further.  
Minoru swallowed thickly before continuing. "He looked... I can't even say how it was. But he looked scared. _More_ than scared... He was huddled at the far end of the bed, curled in a ball, and whispering to himself. I tried to go to his bedside, to try and console him, but I just... stopped. I heard him saying things... like 'turn it around', and 'he'll be here'. And he was almost hysterical, it was _bad_. I tried to talk to him, but he just kept saying it over and _over_ again until he was almost screaming it, and then..."  
Madoka tilted her head to the side, trying to look Minoru in the eyes.  
"'And then' what?" she asked.  
"He broke the mirror," Minoru said bluntly, "It was like it just kind of... exploded, and glass went all across the floor. He didn't throw anything it. He didn't get up to do it, either. He didn't even go _near_ it. He was sitting 4 meters away, and he broke it."  
"B-but... _how_?" Madoka stressed, skeptical as to that whole explanation, "People can't just do that on their own, it doesn't just _happen_. Not usually, anyway..."  
"I know... And I don't know _how_ he did it, exactly. But I know _why_. And it's enough to say why he doesn't like having that mirror facing him: he's afraid of his own reflection."  
"What...? But why would be afraid of his own reflection?" Madoka asked.  
It was only then that Minoru finally looked her in the eye.  
"Probably for the same reason that I am." Madoka was forced into silence, and she stared at Minoru for what seemed like the longest time.

 _Probably for the same reason I am_

 _ **I am what he's always been**_

Yes. Now she remembered.

 _ **I am what he is**_

That face. So familiar at first glance, but after gazing at it you could tell that it was _much_ different.

 _ **And I am what he will**_ **always** ** _be_**

"I know you want to help him," Minoru said sincerely. "And I do too, more than anything. But the simple fact is that we can't if he doesn't let us. And I honestly don't see how he's ever going to at this point."  
"But he _has_ to come around eventually, right?" Madoka questioned, "I mean, I know he's hurting, and he's had things done to him that you don't just _recover_ from, but it can't stay this way forever, can it?"

 _Sometimes even_ I _wonder how I get through the day at this point_

"Well, reasonably, yes." Minoru said uneasily with a shrug of his shoulders, "And I hope that eventually, he _does_ , but... You got him out of there, out of that place, and wherever he was while Alcorin had him there. But there's a piece of him that was left behind, that he is _never going_ to get back..."

 _ **Whoever you bring back, it won't be him**_

"Look, I _know_ I'm not helping any..." Minoru admitted, wiping at his eyes again. "But it's all I can say at this point... I don't even know if he's _ever_ going to be okay again. If he's _ever_ going to really confide in any of us, but it's the way it is, and I'm sorry..."

"Don't apologize, you're right..." Madoka reassured him, causing Minoru to look back up at her again. "I know how you feel... And you're right, he might ever be okay again, but we can try... And whatever happens, I want you to know that _none_ of it is your fault."  
Minoru's eyes widened at that and looked at her with near disbelief.  
Madoka just barely mustered up the strength to smile. "I know you blame yourself for all of this. Honestly, _I_ wanted to blame you too, but I can't... And _you_ shouldn't either. It happened; we can't change that, and you shouldn't dwell on it. It wasn't _your_ fault. It was _his_." She didn't need to say a name for him to get the message. Minoru nodded solemnly, sniffing and wiping at his eyes again. He wrapped his arms around himself, bring himself into a small hug.  
"O-okay..." He said quietly.  
"Minoru, do you know who Mizarice is?" Madoka asked, almost on impulse, and she was actually surprised to see that the question didn't surprise Minoru in the slightest. Instead, he nodded slowly.  
"Not well..." He muttered, "But I get the gist of it. And so do you."  
Madoka said nothing to that. She watched as Minoru dragged the last couple of boxes over to the stairs, and guided them up with practiced precision.  
She had wanted to deny that she knew who Mizarice was because she didn't think she did. She couldn't know who Mizarice was. They had tried to get it out of Gingka multiple times before, but he would never answer them - there was no one she could know...  
But once she dwelled on it for a second or two, it was quite obvious. Maybe she did understand more than she gave herself credit for.

 **I** _ **am**_ **him**

 _ **But**_

 **he** _ **is not**_ **me**

* * *

And suddenly, he was 6 years old again. Wandering into his closet to look for something; he couldn't remember what, but he was sure that it had been important to him at the time. He wandered in, digging around the messy piles on the small space of floor, too tired to notice that he had forgotten to prop the door open. And then there was a click behind him that sounded like a bomb going off, and he was enveloped in total darkness, not even being able to rely on the small streams of light that managed to make it through the tight shudders.  
He had rattled the door, pushed against it, banged on it, his breathing growing faster with every second that passed as he felt the darkness pulling at the edges of his skin, felt the walls just inches away from him, threatening to crush him, suffocate him.  
And then he wasn't in his closet anymore. He was in someone else's closet.  
Small clothes hanging from the bar, various small boxes and baskets and books lined up along the wall in neat rows, several toys piled neatly in the corner. But none of that mattered because the door behind him still wouldn't move. It wasn't like his own closet door, it was an actual door, with a doorknob that could be locked from the inside, but turning it didn't work. It wasn't his closet, but it was familiar.  
He was also sure that the hand that reached up to try the lock wasn't his either, but it didn't matter in that moment. It was dark, and the walls were all around him, and he _couldn't get out_. Judging from the muffled sobs that made it through the deafening ringing in his ears, he was crying. He was sobbing, tears pouring down his face, and he didn't even know if it was his own face, but he heard himself shouting, banging on the door.  
He was back in his own closet again, but it was all the same. He banged on the door, banged on it, and _banged on it_ but nothing worked, it _wouldn't open_ , and everything was suffocating him and he couldn't breathe he couldn't breathe he couldn't breathe.  
He was screaming. And he couldn't tell where he was. Whether he was in his own closet, someone else's closet, or an elevator, he couldn't tell anymore.  
It was all the same. It was all the same and no one was coming for him. No matter whether he was calling out to someone's uncle, to his own parents, or to _anyone_ that could possibly hear him, let him out, it didn't matter anymore.  
No one was coming.  
No one was coming.  
No one was coming.  
And then finally the elevator doors opened. He hadn't noticed that the elevator had started moving again, hadn't noticed that the lights were starting back to life, because the darkness had clouded his vision, surrounded him in a thick blanket where he could hardly breathe, blinded him to everything else outside of his own mind. And the doors finally opened to the outside, to the light, Zyro lunged himself towards it and dragged himself out on his hands and knees.  
He felt hands on him, voices calling to him, telling him that 'it's okay' and 'he's safe now'.  
He knows they are not really trying to comfort him. He knows they're not good people, not people he should be clinging onto for dear life, not people he should be crying in front of because he promised himself that he wouldn't. But it didn't matter anymore. He was here. This is where he was now. And he was not going to leave.  
So as much as it internally disgusted him to have Hideyoshi stroking his back, whispering empty words of blank comfort to him, he let it happen. Because he had nowhere to go. No one else to lean on too, no one else to cry in front of. It didn't matter anymore. And so he sat there with them watching him, half of them with concerned faces and the other half with the pure analytical genius that couldn't be penetrated by worry.  
He'd be fine, eventually. They all knew that.  
So with a gesture from Hideyoshi, they took up their pens, dragging them across sheets of paper with a gracefulness you would only expect to see in movies or tv; that couldn't impossibly exist in the real world. And they all wrote the same thing.  
 _Severe Claustrophobia  
Mild Achluophobia  
Keep away from small, enclosed spaces at all times_

Somewhere underground, on the far side of the facility, Kuro had a breathing mask pressed tightly to his face as he was pressed down into his bed, being held by multiple hands as concerned voices shouted at him to calm down. His sleeve was pulled up above his elbow, and he tensed as a sharp needle was thrust into the vein in his arm, just barely missing the multiple marks and scars that littered the area. Gradually, Kuro's breathing calmed down, and his heart slowed, and nobody had to hold him down anymore. So he lay there on his bed, coming down from his dangerous high, surrounded by the personnel in charge of caring for him. Silently, he cursed himself, and everyone who had ever laid hands on the last person that he still had the power to protect.


End file.
